Petrom: Black Sea exploration, 70 times more expensive

Petrom, the petroleum company which has exploration rights over two 14,000 square-kilometre blocks in the Black Sea, says that in some cases costs for extracting deepwater resources can be as much as 70 times higher than for extracting onshore resources. This is a very risky game, with experts saying that the odds of success are of some 20%, and that the results show in 3-5 years' time. In order to develop one of the two blocks that Petrom has in the Black Sea, specifically Neptun, the company has sealed a deal with ExxonMobil Explorare si Productie Romania, a subsidiary of the American giant, in view of joint exploration of hydrocarbon resources in the deepwater area of the Neptun block. Exxon is the world's largest petroleum company, which posted a record 45.2 billion-dollar profit and 477 billion-dollar revenues last year. Production in the Black Sea will be divided between the two partners based on the sums contributed by each, which makes the American giant also a local producer of oil and gas.