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 ROMANIA
Eastern Europe
Romania is the oldest producing area in the world,
registering production in 1857. It was vitally important in WW2 for sustaining the German army. The
main hydrocarbon provinces in Romania are located in the eastern and
southern Carpathians.
 Although early fields were drilled on structural highs
the only remaining prospects are highly complex buried traps. Oil has
also been found in the Pannonian basin on the west of the country.
Gas is the main hydrocarbon in central Romania produced
from the large gently folded Transylvanian basin.
Onshore oil is in decline but foreign companies have
acquired licences from the Romanian licensing authority, the National
Agency for Mineral Resources (NAMR), and have been exploring in the
Babadag basin in the western Black Sea.
 The Romanians began offshore exploration in 1969 and two
fields, West and East Lebada, with reserves totalling an estimated 76 mm
Bbls, were discovered in 1980. They began producing in 1986 but are
almost depleted despite attempts to maintain output.
In 1992 Enterprise Oil was awarded two blocks (Pelican
and Midia) north and south of the Lebada complex. Sterling Resources is now
operator of these Blocks. The Donia gas discovery lies in
Midia, which produced gas at a rate of 0.48 mm cubic metres per day from
Donia-2 but the field has not been established to be commercial.
Oil production from newer fields is declining rapidly.
However, after extensive workover programmes, old wells are increasing
output. In addition the Romanian company, Petrom, is planning horizontal
drilling programmes and additional workover activity to increase recoveries in older fields.
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