OMV Says Neptun FID Due 2H 2018

OMV has commented on the schedule for sanctioning its joint venture deepwater gas discoveries offshore Romania.

In a statement issued to NGW April 17, the Austrian firm said: "We are continuing engineering activities together with our partner ExxonMobil for the Neptun project. We have concluded the conceptual evaluation work and selected a potential development plan for both Domino and Pelican South gas discoveries."

Neptun Deep and Pelican South in the deepwater Romanian section of the Black Sea are equally owned by ExxonMobil and OMV Petrom, the latter 51% owned by OMV.

OMV added: "The preferred concept would consist of subsea development wells tied to a shallow water platform for gas treatment and include a 160-km subsea pipeline to shore. Neptun Deep’s onshore facilities would consist of a metering station and related equipment. Pending on continued fiscal stability, legal and regulatory framework clarity and gas market developments, the current schedule would position us for a potential final investment decision in the second half of 2018." OMV previously said in September 2017 that it was targeting FID in the second half of this year.

ExxonMobil confirmed this week it awarded a contract to two Schlumberger subsidiaries to carry out work on Neptun Deep.