Shale gas: Romania has a uniform position with European states as for their exploration

Romania has a uniform position with the European states in respects of shale gas exploration, discussions on their exploitation going to be resumed after the outcome of the exploration stages, said Economy Minister Varujan Vosganian, in a press conference.

05171800-2048440186“We talked with several colleagues from the European Union, with countries such as Poland, Belgium. All have a unified position in respects of the shale gas, which refers to the possibility of exploring, to know which is the core of the discussions. And in Romania the matter is discussed in the same way. The Government is willing to accept explorations. It takes a while. It is possible that, during this period, technologies will improve, so to avoid later the effects of exploitation. If we talk of exploration, I think we need to do it, it does not affect neither the environment, nor life. It is our duty to know if the debate continues and how”, Varujan Vosganian said.

Prospecting activities for gas and shale will bypass protected areas, will be conducted at a distance of at least one kilometer from the Black Sea shore and will not take place in towns or inhabited areas, reveals an information document made recently available to AGERPRES by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change / MMSC /.

At the same time, exploration operations following prospecting will not involve the use of hydraulic fracturing process.

Constanta Environmental Protection Agency recently issued the decisions on the classification stage for Chevron Romania Exploration and Production SRL in case of Costinesti and Vama Veche perimeters (southeast), which comprise the seismic prospecting to identify resources. The Ministry of Environment stresses that, for this stage, there is no need for environmental impact assessment because the “exploration” is made by classical applied methods / wells drilled in Romania for decades “.

Chevron holds licenses to conduct such prospecting works for shale gas in three blocks in Romania, with an area of 270,000 hectares (Costinesti, Vama Veche and Barlad). According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration – EIA, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria have together shale gas reserves of 538 billion cubic meters, enough to cover the needs of Romania for almost 40 years.AGERPRES

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