US Chevron Corporation to look for shale gas in the Dobrudja region

The American Chevron Corporation will look for possibilities to extract shale gas in the Northeast of Bulgaria, announced yesterday after a meeting of the government, the Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Traicho Traikov. He explained that the Council of Ministers had decided that the company should search the area around the town of Novi Pazar in the course of 5 years in compliance with environmental standards.

Chevron also submitted an operational programme for gas search worth €50 mln, while the environmental protection investments would be 4 mln. In fact, some € 30 mln would be transferred by the company just for the launch of the exploration procedure and all risks as to whether gas is discovered, as well as the drawing up of the environment assessment would be at the expense of the company, said the Minister. According to him, the selection procedure was carried out transparently. Besides Chevron Corp., another bidder was the American company BNK Petroleum.

According to the company's forecasts, the Dobrudja region could contain around 1 trln. cu. m of the fuel. This quantity may be sufficient for the normal gas consumption over the next 300 years, said a month ago Traikov. A year ago, some shale gas was discovered in the Pleven District by another US company - Direct Petroleum Exploration Inc. The company was granted permit for gas drilling in the area of the Deventsi village.

Meanwhile, a group of hoteliers from the town of Devin staged a protest yesterday over the fallen stones along the new highway section Devin-Mihalkovo. The section was constructed as a bypass route because a part of the old motorway was flooded by the Tsankov Kamak Dam. As a result of the problems with the new highway, there could be an outflow of tourists, explained yesterday hoteliers from Devin. They urge NEK (National Electric Company) to clear and secure the road. Currently, the company is lifting another 3 km section of the old road at the town entrance because it could also be flooded. The bypass highway worth €220 mln has not yet been released officially. NEK also constructed a highway route to the village of Osikovo, which was donated to the Devin Municipality.

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