Black Sea Region and Natural Gas Prospects

Natural Gas Europe

The recent international Black Sea Oil & Gas Forum held in Bulgaria highlighted culminations surrounding natural gas trade and investments in the region, which are gaining strong pace.

The president of the Bulgarian energy regulatory authority, Mrs. Evgenia Haritonova, pointed out that Bulgaria's immediate target is to increase the production of domestic natural gas while at the same time diversifying its import sources, based on the current pipeline projects, such as the Southern Corridor and the interconnectors with its neighbors - Greece, Serbia and Romania, which will be finalized within the next 18 months. Further she added that the Bulgarian government had already signed with an energy consortium comprised of the France's Total SA, Austrian OMV and Spanish Repsol to conduct research for gas in the Black Sea field of Khan Asparuh. Identical competitions with international companies will take place in due time for the offshore locations of Silistar, Sveta Marina and Teres.

Regarding shale gas, Haritonova stated that for the moment the energy Ministry is following the moratorium of the Parliament, and until it is lifted no research could be made.  It is interesting to note that Bulgaria's special advisor of the ministry of economy Petar Poptchev noted that Chevron was not so much interested in shale gas exploration, but in conventional gas.

Unconventional gas in Europe: Frack to the future

The Economist

SHALE gas and oil are propelling America to energy self-sufficiency and giving its economy a handy boost. Europe’s shale-gas deposits are said almost to match those across the Atlantic (see map). Will the old continent soon enjoy the same benefits?

The mismatch between the hope and reality for European shale gas was neatly summarised by a deal sealed on January 24th that will allow Shell to probe Ukraine for unconventional gas. Ukrainian politicians talked of a $10 billion investment. Shell took a more cautious line. The firm certainly hopes to find plenty of gas in eastern Ukraine. But it will first do some seismic testing and sink 15 test wells. If the results are disappointing it could, like ExxonMobil in Poland, walk away.

It is too early to tell whether Europe’s shale beds will really prove as bountiful as America’s. Only a handful of test wells have been sunk. Exxon may have quit Poland, the country where exploration has gone furthest, but other firms are having more joy. Determining which countries might enjoy a bonanza of cheap gas is highly speculative, a recent report by Deutsche Bank points out: many things are in flux, including extraction technologies and production rates.

Turkey holds its breath for shale gas and syngas

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Turkey’s anticipation to be freed of soaring import dependency due to rising energy consumption feels more realizable as shale gas reserve searches and synthetic gas production continue

New findings are spurring hopes in Turkey’s search for new energy resources, following the energy minister’s recent announcement that indications of possible shale gas resources had been found in the Central Anatolian provinces of Ankara, Konya and Kırşehir.

Both the rising domestic gas consumption forcing import dependency and Turkey’s geographic location linking it as a supplier to international markets suggest that the discovery of major reserves could be a great relief for the Turkish economy.

Turkey has been anticipating the normalization of world energy markets, which have recently seen significant price divergences. However, in the meantime it is also seeking to benefit from the reserve potentials in its southeastern, eastern and western regions, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said during Turkey’s International Shale Oil and Gas Conference held in Ankara.

Shell has been drilling around the southeastern city of Diyarbakir for shale gas, but Turkey has also accelerated its operations in Central Anatolia.

Turkey Beating Norway as Biggest Regional Oil Driller: Energy

Offshore Oil drilling on Turkey's Black sea cost

Selcan Hacaloğlu & Brian Swint       Bloomberg


Turkey is drilling for oil and natural gas with more rigs than any European country and plans new rules in 2013 to speed exploration of energy supplies for the fastest-growing major economy after China.

The country fielded 26 rigs at Dec. 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and the number has since risen to 34, Energy Ministry officials said yesterday. Turkey has leapfrogged Norway as offshore drilling increased in the Black and Mediterranean seas. Spending on exploration jumped to $610 million last year from $42 million a decade earlier.

With economic growth forecast at 3.5 percent this year and about twice the pace of the most advanced economies to 2017, Turkey is drilling for its own energy to ease reliance on imports from Iran, Iraq and Russia. State-owned Turkish Petroleum Corp. has taken Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) as partners, after neighboring Israel and Cyprus made some of the decade’s biggest gas finds in the past three years.

“If there’s one country that needs energy, it’s Turkey,” said Darren Engels, an analyst at FirstEnergy Capital in Calgary. “Their domestic business doesn’t scratch the surface.”

Turkish Petroleum, which is known as TPAO and has operations in Libya, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Colombia and Kazakhstan, needs to boost domestic output as it pursues a target of supplying all of Turkey’s energy needs by 2023.

Turkey to explore fuel with Shell in Black Sea

 

Hurriyet Daily News

Turkish Petroleum Corporation plans to search for oil in the Black Sea with Shell, sources say. However, the ministry has not announced officially

 Turkey’s state-run oil researcher TPAO prepares to search for oil in the Black Sea with the Anglo-Dutch Shell, after failed attempts by international energy companies, according to sources.

The ministerial sources said TPAO and the Holland-United Kingdom-based Shell have been in contact for an oil exploration partnership in the Black Sea. The contract date has been determined to be Feb. 14, when the two companies will reveal their search and production deal to the public, sources said.

Furthermore, TPAO, which has carried out oil and natural gas exploration by itself, has received a proposal from Shell to work together in the Gulf of Mersin, alongside the other companies’ proposals, sources say. TPAO might strike a deal with Shell or another company for a partnership in Mersin, as it had talks with 13 companies for exploring in the İskenderun-Mersin Gulf last year.