Romanian natural gas producer Romgaz has recently launched two tenders for the procurement of drilling equipment as the company plans to drill 40 new wells in the 2023-2025 period.
The two tenders, worth 5.3 million and 7.3 million euros, are for the procurement of for steel pipes, wellheads, and other materials. According to the company, it plans to drill wells at the depths between 1,300 and 1,500 meters in an effort to find new gas deposits. Romania aims to reverse the trend of recent years, during which it decreased its natural gas production.
Currently, Romgaz produces a little over half the amount of gas extracted in Romania. The company estimates the production of 4.94 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2022, which is 1.8 % lower compared to the previous year. In 2021, Romgaz extracted 5.03 billion cubic meters of gas. However, the decline is lower than the estimated 2.5 % drop for the 2021-2023 period.
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 increase its production levels, Romgaz aims to further prioritize repair, maintenance, and rehabilitation activities at its 3,000 existing wells and commission new exploratory ones. Drilling activities will also be accelerated. Without these measures, 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 %.
