An Amoco Production Co. unit has signed the first agreement by a western company for conventional petroleum exploration rights in Poland.
The agreement between Amoco Poland Ltd. and Poland's Ministry of Environmental Protection, Natural Resources, and Forestry calls for Amoco to make an initial $20 million investment to conduct seismic surveys and drill wildcats on two blocks.
Block A is a 1,695,750 acre spread southwest of Warsaw in the heart of the Polish trough. Block B covers about 979,000 acres southeast of Lublin on the Polish-Ukrainian border.
The state has an option to acquire as much as 30% interest in future hydrocarbon development.
Amoco said although its agreement was signed Oct. 2, full scale work depends on Poland's approval of pending petroleum tax law changes. Once that occurs, Amoco's agreement calls for 3 years of operations with an option to renew for 3 years.
Amoco also participated in a Polish coalbed methane licensing round, which closed Oct. 1 (see map, OGJ, July 20, p. 40) and is evaluating acreage offered in the country's first licensing round for conventional exploration and production, which closes Oct. 15 (OGJ, May 11, Newsletter).
Amoco signed an agreement with state owned Polish Oil & Gas Co. in 1989 providing for a 12 month joint venture study of geological and geophysical data covering about 30 million acres. It was the country's first such agreement (OGJ, Aug. 7, 1989, p. 31).
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