Romania’s state gas giant Romgaz aims to dig 40 wells by 2025

The state-controlled gas producer Romgaz recently launched tenders for the purchase of equipment needed for drilling wells. The company aims to dig 40 new exploration wells between 2023 and 2025.

The tenders, worth RON 26 mln and RON 36 mln, are for steel pipes, wellheads, and other materials. The wells will be shallow, medium, and deep, between 1,300 and 5,300 meters, and their commissioning will lead to new sources of gas. Romania aims to reverse the trend of recent years, during which it decreased its natural gas production.

Romgaz, with the Romanian state as its majority shareholder, produces a little over half the amount of gas extracted in Romania. The company estimates producing 4.94 million cubic meters of natural gas in 2022. The figure represents a 1.8% decline compared to the levels registered in 2021. That year, Romgaz extracted 5.03 million cubic meters of gas. However, the decline is lower than the 2.5% one estimated in the 2021-2023 development strategy, according to Economedia.

The 2022 natural gas production was impacted by the natural decline of fields, and problems with facilities in the Snagov area. The war in Ukraine also led to failures in supply chains, with delays impacting the purchase of new equipment and parts. The latter caused major delays in the commissioning of new production capacities.

To up its production levels, the state-owned gas giant aims to further prioritize repair, maintenance, and rehabilitation activities at its 3,000 existing wells and commission new exploratory ones. Drilling will also be accelerated. Without these measures, Romgaz representatives also say, the production decline registered in 2022 would have surpassed 7%, because 90% of the commercial deposits exploited by Romgaz are mature, and depleted, with an accentuated natural production decline between 7-13%.

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