Romgaz Looks to Shale for Security

Romania's largest gas producer Romgaz has said that it will seek to exploit an uncoventional gas discovery in Transylvania, which will help to lessen its dependence on Russian gas imports.

The discovery, which includes shale gas, was made in the Romanian region of Transylvania. Romgaz says it will aim to extract the gas found, which it says it has been encountering since the mid-1990s, using new technologies to explore and extract.

"You could say we accidentally produced unconventional gas until now," Romgaz development director Radu Gheorghe said yesterday. "And now we will test new drilling technology. We are currently in a reevaluation stage both in conventional and unconventional gases. We are in the exploration stage."

If such exploration was successful, Romanian newspaper Capital reports Mr. Gheorghe as saying, the country could store up to 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) in underground storage, granting it security of supply.

Despite the company's confident statement, exploring for one unconventional gas may prove problematic in a legal context. Earlier this year, a government led by new Romanian president Victor Ponta declared an immediate moratorium on shale gas and its exploration. The moratorium bans the exploration of gas while an environmental study into its effects are underway.

Prime Minister Ponta has said that the moratorium will not be lifted until at least 2012.