Two Consortia To Drill In Romanian Black Sea Shelf

BUCHAREST (AFP)--Two consortia have obtained oil and gas drilling rights in an area of the Black Sea shelf won in 2009 by Romania, after a decades-old spat with Ukraine, the Agency for Mineral Resources, or ANRM, said Monday. The consortia, made up of Lukoil Overseas-Vanco International, and Melrose Resources PLC (MRS.LN)-Petromar Resources will drill in two perimeters each, covering a total of 4,000 square kilometers, the agency said. Several other international groups, including Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Rompetrol and Repsol YPF SA (REP), had also taken part in the tender. Kiev and Bucharest argued for years over the boundary of the Black Sea's continental shelf, a maritime area said to contain oil and gas. In 2004, Romania took the dispute to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the United Nations's highest court. In February 2009, the court handed Bucharest 80%, or 9,700 square kilometres, of the disputed area, a 12,400-square-kilometre zone south of the Serpents' Island. Romanian experts have said this area in the northwestern part of the Black Sea may contain 100 billion cubic meters of gas. However, the ANRM said five to six years of exploration as well as several dozen million euros in investments would be needed before these resources can be exploited. (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 05, 2010 09:51 ET (13:51 GMT)