OMV Petrom, Romanian oil and gas company, and NewMed Energy Balkan, a subsidiary of Israel-based NewMed Energy, announced the signing of a rig contract for the drilling of two offshore exploration wells in the Black Sea, offshore Bulgaria.
The drilling operations will be carried out by Noble Corporation, a company specialising in offshore drilling services. The selected drilling ship, Globetrotter I, is a state-of-the-art ultra-deepwater drillship.
The two wells will be drilled on the Han-Asparuh Block. The drilling operation is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of this year and is anticipated to last approximately four months. The value of the rig contract is approximately 80 million dollars (68 million euros).
The integrated drilling services will be provided by Halliburton, and the well testing services will be provided by SLB. Total drilling budget expected at approximately 170 million euros.
Han Asparuh is an exploration block located in the western Black Sea in Bulgaria, south of the Neptun Deep block in Romania and has an area of 13,712 km² with water depths slightly below 2,000 m.