Polish oil and gas company Serinus Energy, controlled by an investment fund of billionaire Sebastian Kulczyk, announced that its former partner in the Satu Mare Concession in Romania, Oilfield Exploration Business Solutions (OEBS), was ruled by an arbitral tribunal to exit the Joint Operation Agreement (JOA) and hand it the 40% stake.

OEBS is the hydrocarbon exploration and production division of KMG International, part of Kazakh state company kazMunayGas.

The court ruled that OEBS is to be considered withdrawn from the JOA and the Concession Agreement as of the notification to the parties of the approval of the competent authorities of such withdrawal, according to Energy-pedia.com.

The transfer of OEBS' 40% participating interest to Serinus will be effective as of the notification to the parties of the approval by the Romanian Government and ANAF. This will result in OEBS having no more interest in the JOA and the Concession Agreement.

The Satu Mare Concession (295,000 ha) is one of the largest exploration blocks in Romania, lying on a prolific oil and gas trend in the Eastern Pannonian Basin.

Serinus posted revenues of USD 19.3 mln in Romania in the first half of last year, up 90.3% from the same period in 2021, despite a 66% drop in production. Production fell by 66% YoY, to 485 boe/d, "reflecting the natural decline profile of shallow gas fields," according to the company.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Studioclover | Dreamstime.com)