Oil Found in Bulgarian Black Sea Offshore Drilling

Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev has not elaborated on the amounts of gas available. File photo, BGNES

Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev has announced that oil was found in the Khan Asparuh block during offshore drilling earlier this year.

Donchev has not elaborated his remarks at the opening of a tripartite meeting of government, employers, and unions.

A source of Inews.bg (a website of Novinite Group) working in the public sector has confirmed the news.

The amounts of oil have not yet been made public.

Deepwater drilling was carried out in the spring of this year in Khan Asparuh, the offshore block lying at the maritime boundary with Romania.

Bulgaria hopes to find both oil and gas in the Black Sea as up to 90% of its gas supplies come from Russia. It may also use new gas deposits for its Balkan Gas Hub project.

A drilling license was obtained in August 2014. A consortium of France's Total, Austria's OMV and Spain's Repsol had investd nearly BGN 1 B in the project.

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