Prime minister Ilie Bolojan, in a press conference on November 21, said that Romania took steps to protect the interests of state company Romgaz, which holds 12.2% in the Trident Black Sea offshore perimeter operated by Russia’s Lukoil. He said that the authorities in Bucharest “collaborated” with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) within the Treasury in Washington, but no further details are available.
“We collaborated with the American entity that ordered these sanctions. We took the necessary measures so that Romgaz would not be affected by these sanctions. We notified, we informed. Things from this point of view are secured,” Bolojan declared, according to Economica.net.
Lukoil came under US sanctions and has until December 13 to sell its assets to an OFAC-approved entity.
The operations at Trident perimeter, preliminarily estimated to hold 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas, to be further confirmed by explorations, have lagged for years. Lukoil has wanted to sell its stake on several occasions over the years, but things have never progressed, and Romgaz is not willing to take on an additional share.
Lukoil is required, through the exploration program agreed with the Romanian state, to drill at least one more well. However, according to a Reuters report, in October, after the Russian giant was sanctioned by the UK, the company that Lukoil had hired to do the drilling announced that it was no longer honouring its contract.
Thus, the Norwegian company Vantage Drilling announced, on October 19, the “immediate termination” of a contract for a 260-day drilling campaign for its ship Platinum Explorer, citing “changes in economic sanctions applicable to the campaign, which make the execution of the contract illegal”.
The contract was worth about USD 80 million, and the deadline for launching the drilling campaign was subsequently postponed twice. The last deadline was for the first quarter of next year.
iulian@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: Curraheeshutter/Dreamstime.com)
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