Shell Plans Bulgarian Black Sea Well

Anglo-Dutch major Shell will drill next month a single exploration well offshore as the operator of the Block 1-14 ‘Khan Kubrat’ licence area, within the Bulgarian sector of the Black Sea, a company spokesman said March 26. 

“The drilling programme of single exploration well is expected to commence in April and the well will take around three to four months to complete. If hydrocarbons are found, further activity will be necessary to determine whether production is commercially viable," said the company.

Spanish Repsol and Australian Woodside have acquired a 20% and a 30% stake, respectively, in the licence, enabling Shell to share costs and expertise, it said.

There has been shallow but no deepwater production offshore Bulgaria, although there are big resources in the Romanian section to the north. Onshore is where the risk lies in Romania, as the government unexpectedly put up upstream taxes last year, leading some producers to threaten to walk away, or make final investment decisions conditional on changes to the law.