Financiarul

The blocks leased out in the Black Sea to Marine Resources Exploration International, belonging to the Rompetrol Holding group of companies, is a potential in terms of resources for the generation of alternative energy, but the Black Sea’s potentials for alternative energy resources will be quantified in two-three years, businessman Dinu Patricu told a private radio station in a recent interview.

‘As I was saying, there is a potential in terms of resources for the generation of alternative energy, but since only exploration works are underway we cannot say anything about benefits.

I could talk at most about risks and costs. I spent more than $20 million in the last year, and working on this project are hundreds of researchers and technology specialists,’ said Patriciu.

In 2008, 9,000 square kilometers in the Black Sea were leased out to Marine Resources Exploration International SRL, a member of the Rompetrol Holding with a business turnover in excess of $2 billion.

The leased area is being drilled for sapropelic deposits.

The sapropel is marine sediment rich in organic matter. Its mining requires deep mining techniques. It is a substance with a potential to be developed into many products, and even used as an alternative for energy generation.

Patriciu said that the licence awarded to Marine Resources is for the mining of the sapropel.

‘For the time being, we have to see whether this is an economically viable project.

Until then there is no quantitative estimate of resources and we cannot establish the project’s viability. We know that such resources exist, but they are not quantifiable.

They may take between two and three years to quantify.

Patriciu mentioned that there is a high probability of hydrocarbon reserves being discovered in Romania at high depth, as there is also a probability of resources for alternative energy generation existing in the Black Sea.

‘All these could secure Romania’s energy independence in a relatively short period of time.

All these explorations take years and these potentials can only be developed using domestic and foreign investments,’ the businessman said.

‘It is hard to work out an average in a hydrocarbon exploration project, but there are 20-30 percent chances that discoveries will be made when you start off your digging from preliminary information,’ said Patriciu.