More than 60 percent of the new petrol and gas deposits have been discovered under the continental shelf. Experts claim that over 40 percent of raw material worldwide in the next 10 – 15 years will come from there. However, the Black Sea remains terra incognita, since barely 5 percent of it has been studied. That is why Bulgarian energy experts call this gold mine the sleeping beauty of this country’s energy sector. The raising of the price of petrol and the growing dependence from Russia’s gas supplies cause an increased interest towards researches in the Black Sea shelf.

Bulgaria started to develop its own deposits in March 2012. The government signed end-August a contract for surveys for petrol and gas in the so-called Khan Asparuh field in the depths of the Black Sea, near Romania with a consortium, headed by the Total company from France. The Austrian OMV and the Spanish Repsol are also part of this structure. Experts claim that solid quantities of gas are available in this part of the shelf, since the biggest deposits have been discovered nearby, in the Romanian shelf. Media voiced these days that a lot of petrol was expected to gush in the southern parts of the Black Sea, near Turkish territorial waters. The field has been named Teres, after a famous Thracian king. Why do experts think that there is a lot of oil down there? Teres is situated next to a Turkish field, where a major quantity of oil was discovered a few days ago. In fact the new research terrain has been a white spot on the map of Bulgarian marine space so far. The future investors will research at a depth of 5 – 6,000 m in the Bulgarian aquatory. Significant deposits of petrol and a bit smaller of gas have been discovered there so far. If everything is OK, the extraction may begin after 5 years.

Romania became also an active participant in petrol and gas surveys. A consortium of the Exxon Mobil and OMV companies proved the existence of large oil and gas deposits in the deep waters of the Black Sea. Another consortium of Russian Lukoil Overseas and the American Vanco International will carry out further surveys in the Romanian part of the shelf.

Turkey also tries to get rid of its dependence from Russian gas through the same method. However, it also has direct access to the petrol and gas of Central Asia and the Middle East. A few days ago Turkey voiced that major quantities of gas had been discovered right next to the Teres field, hence the hopes of the Bulgarian experts.

Being Black Sea countries, Russia and Ukraine also started surveys in the deep waters. Russia even placed those in its list of energy priorities. Exxon Mobil and Rosneft started surveys in the Black Sea shelf. Ukraine on the other hand plans to research two fields this year.

Each of the Black Sea countries tries to prove that it has the right to explore as many fields in the shelf as possible. Russia and Ukraine even turned to the International Court of Justice in Hague. Bucharest also has its claims, regarding the Khan Asparuh field mentioned above. The negotiations are not over yet, but if those fail, the Hague court will have to interfere once again. Thus the Black Sea turns into the new El Dorado for “black gold”.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev