Lukoil started drilling the well at the beginning of November 2014, with the project set to be completed in seventy days and cost $100 million to $150 million, according to the available information. The well, Helena-1X, should give the company an indication of the potential hydrocarbon reserves hidden 4,000 meters deep in the Black Sea.
The company’s two blocks, Est Rapsodia and Trident, are right next to the deepwater area of the Neptun block currently drilled by OMV Petrom (SNP.RO) and ExxonMobil. The two have already found a natural gas deposit of 42 to 84 billion cubic meters there, enough to keep Romania supplied for five years.
Helena-1X is the fourth exploration well drilled in the deepwater area of the Black Sea. Petrom and ExxonMobil drilled the other three, named Domino-1, Domino-2 and Pelican South-1.
“Lukoil Overseas started implementing the drilling program in offshore blocks Est Rapsodia and Trident in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea in the beginning of November, 2014,” says Fedor Klimkin, press and communication officer with Lukoil Overseas.
“The first exploration well (Helena-1X) was spudded to a target depth of nearly 4,000 meters in water depth of around 200 meters on the Est Rapsodia block, 185 kilometers to the east of the Romanian Black Sea coast. The drilling will last nearly 70 days.”
In mid September last year, Lukoil brought an offshore drilling rig, Development Driller II, in the Black Sea. The rig can accommodate 176 people, weighs more than 30,000 tons and can operate in waters up to almost 2,300 meters deep, drilling wells up to a depth of over 11,400 meters, according to the available information.
The total area of Est Rapsodia and Trident blocks is about 2,000 square kilometers. Project partners are Lukoil Overseas (72%), Vanco (18%), Romgaz (10%), Fedor Klimkin added.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)