Lotos Reportedly Dealing with ENI on Baltic Sea Shales

Grupa Lotos SA is reportedly in talks with Eni SpA to jointly explore for shale gas on the Polish company's offshore Baltic Sea licenses.

In May 2011, it was reported that Poland's second-largest refiner, which has been engaged in exploration and production of oil and conventional gas on the Baltic Sea, had expanded its licenses to include shale gas.

At that time, Paweł Olechnowicz, President of Lotos, was quoted as saying: “It is very likely that there is unconventional gas within the sites covered by our sea concessions. Lotos has already received six sea shale concessions and tries to obtain four more."

Hoping to leverage knowledge and expertise acquired through its JV in the Barnett Shale in Texas, Eni made its entrance into European unconventional gas scene in December 2010, becoming operator of three licences in the Baltic Basin through the acquisition of Minsk Energy Resources.