Canadian oil company Sterling Resources Ltd. obtained from Romanian authorities, by government decision, the approval for a concession contract worth several dozens of million dollars for exploring a surface of approximately 600,000 hectares in the Craiova area.
For a five-year period, that is the first stage of the concession contract, the Canadian company will explore the respective surface in search of crude oil and natural gas. "In the first stage, we will invest between five and seven million dollars," Robert Welty, Sterling Resources executive manager told Ziarul Financiar.
"The chances of success for such a concession are of 15-20%, even if Romania is the country that has the wealthiest mineral resources in the Balkan region," said Mihai Germa, a manager at the National Agency of Mineral Resources. "The exploiting companies start off from a risk they are willing to take, as this is in fact some kind of a gold rush," Mihai Germa added.
Sterling Resources is not the only oil company holding a licence for exploiting Romanian oil fields. Petrom, Exprogaz, American companies Hemco Rebecco and Forest Oil, Irish company Tullow and the British from Palladin are the other market competitors.
Romania currently produces only 6.2 million tonnes of crude oil annually, as compared to the 14 million extracted in 1974, which was a peak year. The most suggestive example is that of companies Shell and Amoco, which between 1992 and 1997 spent 100 million dollars for exploring two oil fields in Transilvania and Apos. "The two companies did not find anything," Germa said.
The exploration block onshore Craiova Sud is among the few surfaces in Romania that haven't been so far explored for crude oil or natural gas. Welty says that, according to the analyses made by the Canadian company, this area is practically unexplored.
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