据路透社2月23日报道,保加利亚与荷兰皇家壳牌公司于周二达成了一份协议,将在黑海勘探石油和天然气,力求摆脱对俄罗斯天然气的依赖。
壳牌公司在去年9月份就赢得了招标,获得了一个为期5年的许可,在Silistar区块7000平方千米的深水区域进行油气勘探,并承诺在地震测量上投入186亿欧元(约合205亿美元 )。
壳牌国际勘探生产公司区域总监Eileen Wilkinson在签订协议后表示:“今天我们得到了许可,将对保加利亚海上石油天然气的潜力进行评估。这或将是个漫长的过程,且充满不确定性。”
保加利亚是欧盟经济最落后的国家,95%的天然气需求由俄罗斯天然气公司提供,其盟友比利时和美国都希望这样的状况能有所改变。
签署了该协议的保加利亚总理Boiko Borisov说:“现在没人敢说保加利亚不努力发展多样化的石油和天然气来源了。”
沈佳蕾摘译自路透社
原文如下:
Bulgaria signs deal with Shell for deepwater oil and gas exploration
Feb 23 Bulgaria sealed a deal with Royal Dutch Shell on Tuesday to explore for oil and gas in an offshore block in the Black Sea in a bid to end its almost total dependence on Russian natural gas.
Shell won a tender for a five-year permit for deepwater exploration at the 1-14 Silistar block that covers 7,000 square km in September and pledged to invest 18.6 million euros ($20.5 million) in seismic surveys.
"The licence that we have been awarded today allows us to evaluate the potential for oil and gas in offshore Bulgaria. This process can be quite a long process and with much uncertainty," said Eileen Wilkinson, regional director at Shell International Exploration and Production, after the signing.
At present, the EU's poorest country meets over 95 percent of its gas needs with imports from Russia's Gazprom, which also come only via one route - a situation that its allies in Brussels and Washington want to see changed.
"Now nobody can say that Bulgaria is not working actively to diversify its supplies of oil and gas," Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, who attended the signing, said.