Melrose sniffs out more gas in Bulgaria

30th Jul 2010 08:15

Melrose Resources has found more gas in the Galata block offshore Bulgaria and signed a new agreement to farm-down its interests in the Rhone Maritime concession offshore France.The Kavarna East No.1 well tested an exploration prospect about 10km to the east of the Melrose operated Galata field production platform. It lies between two other recent discoveries, Kavarna and Kaliakra, which contain combined reserves of 74 billion cubic feet (Bcf) and are currently being developed using sub-sea production wells tied back to the Galata platform. Preliminary reserve estimates for the latest discovery is 12 Bcf, in line with pre-drill forecasts."We will be moving forward to develop the discovery following the Kavarna and Kaliakra field developments which will come on stream over the next few months," said boss David Thomas. In France, Melrose has farmed out a 72.5% of its wholly-owed Rhone Maritime concession located in deep water offshore the Rhone Delta in the Mediterranean. Noble Energy will fund a disproportionate amount of the proposed seismic programme at the largely unexplored area, and plans to get an extension to the concession until November 2015.