OMV Petrom has let a rig contract to Noble Corp. for the Globetrotter I ultra-deepwater drillship drilling to drill two offshore exploration wells in the Black Sea offshore Bulgaria.
The wells will be drilled on 1-21 Han-Asparuh block (OGJ Online, June 12, 2025). The drilling campaign is expected to start in fourth-quarter 2025 and last about 4 months. The value of the rig contract is about $80 million and the total drilling budget is expected to be about $200 million.
Integrated drilling services will be provided by Halliburton and well testing services will be provided by SLB.
Han Asparuh is an exploration block in the western Black Sea in Bulgaria, south of Neptun Deep block in Romania. It covers an area of 13,712 sq km with water depths slightly below 2,000 m. Exploration activities started in 2012 and included geological and geophysical surveys and the drilling of three exploration wells. An extensive 3D seismic campaign was finalized in May 2020 to identify potential drilling targets.
OMV Petrom is operator of 1-21 Han Asparuh with partner NewMed Energy LP.
