OMV Petrom and Romgaz have begun drilling the first well for the development of the Pelican South and Domino fields in the Neptun Deep block in the Black Sea, located 160 km off the coast of Romania. This was reported by OMV Petrom's press service.
The first well is being drilled in the Pelican South area at a depth of 120 meters, with the gas reservoir located 2000 meters below the sea floor. The drilling is expected to take 2-3 months. The Transocean Barents drilling rig has been engaged for this project, with drilling services provided by Halliburton.
"We are excited to move to the next stage of the Neptun Deep project, namely the drilling of the ten wells that will ensure natural gas production, out of which four will be in the Pelican South field and six in the Domino field. The first well will be drilled in the Pelican South field, located in waters approximately 120 meters deep, with the gas reservoir situated about 2,000 meters below the seabed. We estimate that the drilling operations for the ten wells will take us into Q4 2026," says Cristian Hubati, member of the OMV Petrom Executive Board, responsible for Exploration and Production.
The project's infrastructure includes three subsea production systems, an offshore platform, and a pipeline network. The platform provides its own power supply and operates according to high safety and environmental standards.
OMV Petrom and Romgaz are investing up to €4 billion in the development of the Neptun Deep project.
Both companies stated that the project is proceeding as planned, with the first gas expected in 2027. At peak production, the project will supply about 8 billion cubic meters of gas annually for Romania.
OMV Petrom is the largest integrated energy producer in Southeastern Europe, with an annual Group hydrocarbon production of approximately 40 million boe in 2024. The Group has a refining capacity of 4.5 million tons annually and operates an 860 MW high-efficiency gas-fired power plant. The Group is present on the oil products retail market in Romania and neighbouring countries through approximately 780 filling stations under two brands – OMV and Petrom.
OMV Petrom is a company in which, as of end-2024, Romanian shareholders hold over 43% of the shares (of which the Romanian state, through the Ministry of Energy, holds 20.7%, and 22.5% are owned by pension funds in Romania, to which are added almost 500,000 individual investors and other Romanian entities). OMV Aktiengesellschaft, one of the largest listed industrial companies in Austria, holds a 51.2% stake in OMV Petrom, and the remaining 5.6% are held by other foreign investors. Of the total shares of OMV Petrom, 28.1% represents the free float on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
