Romanian oil and gas company OMV Petrom plans to start work on a second deep water exploration well in the Romanian waters of the Black Sea at the end of the second quarter of next year.

“Our enthusiasm about the Black Sea is very real. We expect the Domino well to start production in 2020. At the end of the second quarter of 2014 we’ll start work on the second well. There can be several wells, but I can’t say exactly how many at this point,” said Jaap Huij­skes, executive board member at OMV, quoted by local business daily Zf.ro.

Petrom posted a net profit of some EUR 823 million in the first nine months of 2013, up 27 percent on the same period of 2012. The growth was higher in the third quarter of this year, 47 percent year-on-year, to some EUR 277 million.

The main shareholder in Romania’s Petrom is Austrian OMV, with 51 percent of the shares, while the Economy Ministry has 20 percent, and Fondul Proprietatea – managed by Franklin Templeton – another 19 percent, according to data from the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com