American oil and gas company ExxonMobil awarded a drilling services contract in the Black Sea to another American firm, Diamond Offshore Drilling. The USD 532 million contract is for drilling in the Neptun perimeter in the Black Sea, which ExxonMobil holds together with Romanian oil and gas company Petrom. The winner of the bid is offering, among others, a service called Electronic drilling with cyber chairs. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the company posted revenues of USD 2.9 billion in 2012., and a profit of USD 720 million.

The Romanian company Grup Servicii Petroliere (GSP) also took part in the bid, but its offer was rejected. According to Romanian daily Ziarul Financiar, despite the Government and OMV Petrom representatives having said the discovery of the huge gas bed in the Black Sea would fuel local business, most of the USD 600 million contracts awarded so far have gone to foreign companies.

Romania could become energy independent once exploitation of the Black Sea natural gas reserves found by Exxon Mobil and OMV Petrom begins, and could even become a gas exporter to other countries in Europe, according to Romanian officials. Exploration on the new gas field could start in 2015-2017.

The Neptune block has a surface area of approximately 9,900 square kilometers in deep waters ranging between 50 and 1,700 m. In November 2008, OMV Petrom and ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Romania Limited signed an agreement in which ExxonMobil acquired 50 percent of the Neptune block. Their discovery of a large gas bedding was announced in February 2012.

OMV Petrom is the largest oil and gas company in Romania. Its sales and net profit both fell by 4 percent in the first quarter of 2013, to EUR 1.31 billion, and EUR 303 million, respectively. The company recently announced the decision to award some EUR 360 million in dividends for last year, which is less than half of its record profit for the year, EUR 885 million.

editor@romania-insider.com