Chevron Receives Romanian Approval for Shale Gas Licences

Romania's government has approved the granting of three licenses for shale gas exploration to Chevron Corp.

The approval provides for exploration, development and exploitation of shale gas in the coastal perimeters of Vama Veche, Adamclisi and Costinesti, in the Dobrogea region near the Black Sea.

Ziarul Financiar has reported that Chevron will invest at least $65 million in exploration, which could last 4-10 years

Chevron also has a concession covering 600,000 hectares in the eastern Barlad region in the North East of Romania and plans to drill the first exploration well in the second half of 2012.

A crowd reported to be upwards of several thousands protested against the shale gas development in Barlad last week, where the Municipality has started a campaign to collect signatures to support a legislative initiative to ban extraction of the unconventional gas in area.

The mayor of Barlad, Constantin Constantinescu, is concerned that the process of hydraulic fracturing involved in shale gas extraction would put his town's 69,000 inhabitants at risk.

"As far as I can tell, the negative impact this activity can trigger is far bigger than the pseudo-prosperity the company promises," Constantinescu told AFP.

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