The Government approved the transfer of the rights and obligations related to a number of 40 oil concession agreements, regarding as many hydrocarbon perimeters, from OMV Petrom to Dacian Petroleum, writes Profit.ro. The approval comes almost two years after the agreement announced by the companies, in January 2020. In fact, the companies submitted the application to the National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANRM) only in August 2020. ANRM published the drafts of Government Decision and Substantiation Note. It was not until another year later that the government approved the change in ownership.

Dacian Petroleum has to pay $ 17.8 million for 40 fields located in southern Romania, with a cumulative oil and gas production of approximately 1,700 barrels equivalent of oil (boe) / day to 190 active wells.

Dacian Petroleum is a company founded by Ion Popa, the former general manager of Petrom until privatization, in the period 1992-2003, together with 3 former top executives of the American oil giant Weatherford. The transaction includes the transfer of the wells and oil infrastructure related to those perimeters, as well as a number of 190 employees.

“Independent local estimates have concluded that the perimeters contain significant hydrocarbon reserves, with a daily recovery factor of only 21% for crude oil and 53% for gas. OMV Petrom’s internal estimates, as well as those of some local third parties, indicate remaining reserves of about 10.5-13 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) “, stated in August 2020 a document of the main investor in Dacian Petroleum, the investment fund British London Merchant Securities (LMS) Capital, quoted by Profit.ro.