SOFIA, March 26 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell saidon Tuesday it will start drilling an exploration well in a blockoff Bulgaria's Black Sea coast next month for oil and gas.
Shell has teamed up with Spain's Repsol andAustralia's Woodside Energy after sealing a contractwith Bulgaria in 2016 for deepwater exploratory drilling as partof Sofia efforts to end its almost complete reliance on Russia'snatural gas supplies. It is Shell's only upstream project inBulgaria.
"With partners and with good data... we started preparationfor drilling 18 months ago. This month the rig will move on tothe location and we expect to start drilling on April 1,"Alexander Kayes, Shell's Bulgaria venture manager, toldreporters.
Drilling of the exploration well in the 1-14 Khan Kubratblock in the Black Sea will be at a depth of 1,300 metres and isexpected to take about three months, he said.
In November, French oil giant Totaland its partners Austria's OMV and Repsolstarted drilling a third well in a block next to Shell's blockin the Black Sea.(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Susan Fenton)
