Romania Requires Legislation to Underpin Shale Exploration
Alexandru Patruti, president of Romania's Mineral Resources Agency (NAMR), says the country needs laws to regulate the creation of a shale gas sector.
Romania faces the prospect of exhausting its domestic conventional gas reserves as soon as 2022.
As with many other nations in which shale gas activities are starting to emerge, Romania’s mining codes and other legislative and regulatory environments are geared to the development of conventional, as opposed to unconventional resources.
Although, specific reserve estimations for Romania’s shale gas potential have not yet been developed, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said the joint reserves for Romanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian shale gas was around 538 billion cubic metres (bcm).
A Romanian government delegation visited Washington in September to discuss the involvement of the United States in investment and providing expertise for joint projects for shale gas exploration.
In July 2010, Chevron Corp submitted winning bids for three shale-gas exploration blocks in the south-eastern region of Dobrogea, totaling 2,700 square kilometers. The company also has exploration rights for a block in Barlad (Eastern Romania). The company expects drilling to begin in the second half of 2012, said Thomas Holst, country manager for Chevron.
MOL Group and East West Petroleum Corp. and partner Naftna Industrija Srbije j.s.c. Novi Sad, have also signed drilling agreements with NAMR and are awaiting government approval to proceed.
"The Romanian blocks have a very good oil and gas potential. According to our previous calculations some of these blocks contain an unconventional potential," MOL said, but noted it was too early to estimate the size of the unconventional reserves.
MOL however, has said that due to the high costs of shale gas exploration it would initially prioritize conventional resources.
Sterling Resources Ltd. which has licences to explore conventional gas reserves , is also interested in exploring shale-gas blocks in the southern Romanian region of Oltenia.