Sterling Resources has been in Romania since 1997. Mark Beacom, Vice President of the company, describes themselves as one of “the longest-term pro-active, loyal investors in the Black Sea”. Other companies like Arco, Paladin, Enterprise, and Conoco -, he remembers, they came and then they left. Sterling Resources has spent around 100 million dollars in their Midia and Pelican concessions, and while some dissapointing results were recently communicated on the Muridava Concession, the company is still interested in more licenses in the Black Sea.

Dear Mr. Mark Beacom, what has your company found in Romanian Black Sea, and how far away are you from actually starting production?

In order to start producing there must first be passed an equation where there is a need to balance the gas price, the capital cost, taxes paid and the volumes produced. It’s all these four factors that determine whether there is a viable project.

It’s been huge for us to see Romania move forward on supporting the Black Sea. The price liberalization for example was important for us, one of our key things that had to happen. The Gas law was absolutely vital, because it’s not just a matter of what the price is. It’s whether it is determined by market forces or by a guy sitting behind a desk. Market forces we can understand and it can be bad – market prices can go down very badly -, but we still could have the confidence to go forward.

And now it is the physical access. We beleive we can find the gas, we can build the platforms, we can drill our wells, we can build the offshore pipeline, we can find the landing point, we can build our gas plant, but the gas has to leave the plant somehow and it is a long way from the coast to the NTS (National Transmission System) and then to the consumer. This, along with stability on taxes and royalties, has also to be solved somehow.

What are your achievements up to now?

We have four small discoveries – Ana, Doina, Eugenia and Luceafarul, with a total volume estimated at 14 billion cubic meters. But other than Ana and Donia they are a long ways away from each other. We need to find enough of these small discoveries to link them together; one will not be enough in order to pay for all the infrastructure burden.