Romanian oil & gas producer OMV Petrom and its U.S. partner ExxonMobil decided up give up the Midia Deep oil concession in the Black Sea, which they had taken over from Sterling Resources in 2014.

The consortium will focus on its main Romanian offshore project, namely the perimeter Neptun Deep, in which the two companies have invested in total USD 1.5 billion, in exploration, since 2008, reports local Profit.ro.

OMV Petrom and ExxonMobil have found significant gas deposits in the Neptun Deep perimeter. They are still assessing the project’s commercial potential, and the final investment decision is expected for next year.

OMV Petrom and ExxonMobil decided to give up the Midia Deep perimeter because the exploration work carried out on the perimeter hasn’t led to the discovery of commercially exploitable hydrocarbon deposits in terms of profitability.

The first exploration contract that included Midia Deep was signed in 1992 between Rompetrol, which was still controlled by the Romanian state, and the consortium formed from the British firm Enterprise Oil Exploration and the Canadian company Canadianoxy Ltd. The state’s partners to this project have changed, so that the Canadian company Sterling Resources became the sole owner of the agreement by 2009.

editor@romania-insider.com