State owned Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) joined the Han Asparuh offshore exploration joint venture in the Bulgarian Black Sea.
Exploration drilling started in December 2025 and is ongoing, with the drilling vessel Noble Globetrotter I contracted to drill two exploration wells.
Han Asparuh is an exploration block in the Western Black Sea in Bulgaria, South of the Neptun block in Romania, and has 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 remains operator (45%) with partners NewMed Energy (45%) and BEH (10%).
About the Author
Alex Procyk
Upstream Editor
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).