28 November 2013, News Wires – Italy’s Eni has acquired an operatorship stake in acreage in the Ukrainian sector of the Black Sea that includes the Subbotina oil discovery.
The Milan-headquartered oil major will hold a 50% interest in the block, with partners state oil venture Nadra Ukrainy’s Vody Ukrainy subsidiary (35%), state gas player Naftogaz’s Black Sea arm Chornomornaftogaz (10%) and France’s EDF (5%).
While Eni did not specify the investment involved in the production sharing agreement, Minister of Energy Eduard Stavytsky was earlier quoted by the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN as saying the block would involve an outlay of $4 billion.
The 1400-square kilometre patch lies off the eastern Crimean peninsula in the north-western Black Sea.
It is home to the Subbotina oil discovery uncovered by Chernomornaftogaz in 2006.
Licenses for Abiha, Mayachna and Kavkazka – collectively known as the Pry Kerch block – are also part of the deal, and contain several oil and gas prospects, according to Eni.
The Italian explorer was one of the majors to lose out in bidding on a pair of Ukraine shale blocks last year, which were landed by Shell and Chevron.
US supermajor ExxonMobil and Russia’s TNK-BP also lost out on the $10 billion deals for the Odessa and Yuzivska blocks.
– Upstream
