Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 15, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleShell has signed a contract with Bulgaria to explore the Black Sea for gas, aiming to diversify energy sources and reduce dependence on Russian gas.
SOFIA (Reuters) - Shell signed a contract with Bulgaria's government on Tuesday giving the oil major rights to explore for oil and gas in a field in the Black Sea.
The contract will allow Shell to explore 4,000 square metres in the Block 1-26 Khan Tervel field.
"With this contract, we are taking a significant step toward uncovering the deep Black Sea’s potential for future gas supplies," Bulgaria's Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov said.
European Union member Bulgaria, which had been totally dependent on Russian gas until 2022, has been seeking to diversify its gas supplies and find cheaper sources.
Last month, OMV Petrom and NewMed Energy signed a contract with the Bulgarian government for oil and gas exploration in another field off the Black Sea coast.
"Our first and most important activity is to safely start operations to acquire the 3D seismic we need to image the subsurface in order to determine the potential of gas," Shell executive vice president of exploration, strategy and portfolio, Eugene Okpere, said.
"We believe we can bring the best of our technology and our expertise and a track record to unlock the potential offshore black sea in Bulgaria," he said. (This story has been refiled to fix a typo in the headline)
(Reporting by Ivana Sekularac and Stoyan Nenov; Editing by Susan Fenton)
The main topic is Shell's contract with Bulgaria for oil and gas exploration in the Black Sea.
Bulgaria is exploring the Black Sea to diversify its gas supplies and reduce dependence on Russian gas.
OMV Petrom and NewMed Energy have also signed contracts for exploration in the Black Sea.
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