The operation is part of a deal concluded in June between Rompetrol and OMV Petrom (SNP.RO), worth some $29 million. The contract says Rompetrol provides Petrom with drilling services until 2015.
The investment was mainly used on the purchase of equipment for the drilling operations, and the machinery used is a Romanian first, Rompetrol said in a news release.
Petrom, a company owned by Austrian oil and gas group OMV, awarded in June drilling contracts worth a total EUR248 million. Aside from Rompetrol, service providers included companies controlled by the Cristescu brothers and by Gheorghe Calburean.
The Rompetrol Group is owned by Kazakh state-owned oil company KazMunayGas.