Chevron says no fracking in Romania this year.

By bne IntelliNews April 3, 2012
US oil company Chevron will run only conventional drilling operations at its Barlad field in Eastern Romania and a preliminary exploration of the geology at its three other Romanian plays this year, Ziarul Financiar daily quoted a company's press release as saying. The statement comes after vocal protests of environmental activists against the hydraulic fracturing technology planned to be used by Chevron to extract shale gas from the four plays in Romania. The US oil company was granted last week exploration rights for the three plays - Vama Veche, Costinesti and Adamclisi in south-eastern Romania in addition to the Barlad play in eastern Romania close to the Republic of Moldova where it already holds an exploration licence since 2010. The three plays in south-eastern Romania are named after two holiday resorts and an archaeological site therefore the impact of the announcement of land-consuming and fracking operations and its potential effects on the landscape was major. Chevron country manager Tom Holst was speaking to HotNews agency last week in favour of the shale gas extraction, thus admitting the company's open plans for its Romanian plays. The company plans to drill the first wells in the second part of this year in Barlad play. The exploration and production licences extended by the Romanian state do not distinguish conventional from non-conventional hydrocarbons, the head of the country's mineral resources agency ANMR, Adrian Patruti, explained in an interview for HotNews. Chevron will drill two wells at 2,500-3,500m depth in Barlad play in the coming two years and a supplementary one if the results are encouraging, Patruti said. In the three other plays, only conventional wells will be drilled over the coming four years, he assured. Most of the oil and gas companies in Romania, including major OMV Petrom and Romgaz but also smaller companies like MOL, Sterling and East-West that operate oil and gas plays in the country consider tapping unconventional resources, Patruti added.
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