BSOG's Beacom: It's necessary for all the hostile legislation of investments in Black Sea vanishes

All legislation hostile to investments in the Black Sea must disappear for offshore projects to gain momentum, Mark Beacom, CEO of Black Sea Oil&Gas, said Thursday.

In order for projects in the Black Sea to gain momentum, it is absolutely necessary that all hostile legislation in the Black Sea hydrocarbon fields, which was adopted in 2018, disappears completely. And those rules that at the moment allow foreign companies and foreign producers to bring natural resources to Romania at the expense of local companies and producers must disappear. Romania must ensure that it can produce its own gas without problems and that it stops imports, said Mark Beacom, during the start of work on the submarine pipeline under the Midia - MGD natural gas development project.

He stressed that in this area the competition is fierce, but "it is Romania's choice if it wins the competition for which it has all the necessary strengths and the necessary resources, or will lose it".

The BSOG official made it clear that he does not want a preferential regime for the company he runs, as an investor in Romania, nor are conditions more advantageous compared to other industries, but to be a member waited for with open arms and part of the Romanian winning team.

He added that the additional charges law is unsustainable and will kill the industry, noting that he told the company's shareholders not to worry and to move on, because the law will be amended until production starts.

The Midia Natural Gas Development Project (MGD project), the first natural gas development project in the Romanian Black Sea continental shelf to be built after 1989, has the capacity to cover 10 pct of Romania's natural gas demand in the first phase. There are currently about 10 billion cubic meters of resources that are expected to enter production at a volume of about 1 billion cubic meters per year. The project comprises the Ana and Doina gas deposits (320 Bcf P50 probable resources) discovered in 2007 and 1995 respectively.

The construction, installation and commissioning of the entire marine and land infrastructure of the MGD Project (construction of the offshore production platform, digging of the development wells, installation of offshore and land pipelines and construction of the gas processing terminal) will be carried out in about two years, based on a general contract with GSP Offshore. The GSP's Uranus drilling rig will provide drilling for the five production wells.

In February 2019, BSOG partners and shareholders made the decision to invest in the MGD Project. It will generate an investment of 400 million dollars and about 70 pct of the total contracted activities will come from Romania