TIRANA, Aug. 5 – Albania has selected a joint venture between Canada-based Petromanas and the Royal Dutch Shell and a subsidiary of Israeli-based Delek Group as the winners of the first two onshore oil exploration blocks, the National Agency for Natural Resources has announced.
Canada-based Petromanas and Shell Upstream Albania B.V, the Albanian subsidiary of the Royal Dutch Shell have been announced winners to explore the onshore Block 4 in south-eastern Albania close to their current drilling site at Shpirag.
Meanwhile, Navitas Petroleum, a subsidiary of Israeli-based Delek Group has been announced the winner of Dumre block in central Albania.
The companies were selected based on their investment projects and CVs but will have to negotiate contracts with the Albanian authorities before they get the final okay before they start exploring.
The National Agency for Natural Resources says the race for three other onshore blocks, Panaja, C and 5, has been postponed for October 15.
Meanwhile, the Albanian government has cancelled tender procedures on the exploration of the Joni (Ionian) 5 offshore block in southern Albania which overlaps with Greece until the maritime border dispute is settled with the neighboring country.
Albania currently has 13 free onshore and offshore oil and gas block which are scheduled for concession.
Foreign investors engaged in oil and gas exploration in Albania are exempted from the 20 percent VAT, can have their exploration stage extended from 5 to 7 years and engage in production from 25 to 30 years. Studies show Albania’s oil and gas reserves are estimated at 400 million tonnes, of which around 10 percent are easily extractable.
Several international companies successfully operate in Albania’s oil sector which has seen a boost in the past decade thanks to huge investments.
Canada-based Bankers Petroleum which operates the Patos-Marinza heavy oilfield in south-western Albania is the country’s largest foreign investor. Petromanas Energy, another Canada-based company and its Dutch partner Shell have recently made an important discovery from its Shpirag-2 well in Block 2-3, which covers an area of 3,450 square kilometres onshore south-central Albania.
