BSOG sanctions Midia gas project offshore Romania

Black Sea Oil & Gas (BSOG) has made the Final Investment Decision (FID) to proceed with the $400 million Midia gas development (MDG) project located in the Black Sea offshore Romania. 

The FID was made by BSOG together with its co-venture partners, Petro Ventures and Gas Plus International.

Announcing the FID on Thursday, BSOG said that it had been taken in good faith and on the assumption that BSOG and its joint venture partners would successfully be able to restore all of their rights with respect to the removal of any newly imposed supplemental taxes and fees as well as removing any restrictions, in accordance with EU Directives, on the free movement of gas on a fully liberalized market in order to not only make MGD Project a viable investment but also to encourage further gas developments in the Black Sea.

The MGD Project, which is the first new offshore gas development project in the Romanian Black Sea to be built after 1989, consists of five offshore production wells (one subsea well at Doina field and four platform wells at Ana field), a subsea gas production system over the Doina well which will be connected through an 18 km pipeline with a new unmanned production platform located over Ana field.

A 126 km gas pipeline will link the Ana platform to the shore and to a new onshore gas treatment plant (GTP) in Corbu commune, Constanta county, with a capacity of 1 BCM per year representing 10% of Romania’s consumption. The processed gas will be delivered into the NTS at the gas metering station to be found within the GTP.

Gas sales & transport contracts 

BSOG has secured a long-term gas sales agreement with a Romanian subsidiary of Engie. The contracted volumes refer to all MGD Project gas production, reduced by the volumes that the producers are currently obliged to sell on the centralized market.

BSOG has also secured a gas transmission contract with Transgaz for the transport of the MGD Project production into the National Transmission System (NTS) for a contractual period of 15 years.

The entire project infrastructure, including all offshore and onshore facilities, has been contracted to be built, installed and commissioned under an EPCIC Contract with GSP Offshore SRL, with a contracted delivery date 1Q 2021. The development drilling of the five production wells will also be performed by GSP for which GSP Uranus jack-up rig will deployed.

BSOG also confirmed that all the contracting activities for this project would, in total, have Romanian content of roughly 70%.

In 2019, BSOG anticipates having completed the detailed engineering for the MGD Project, started the fabrication of the Ana wellhead platform at the shipyard in Agigea, started the civil constructions at the GTP site in Corbu and have purchased a number of long lead company items.

Mark Beacom, BSOG CEO, commented: “This project is very much a pioneering project with many firsts having been successfully achieved in Romania.”