Petrom, the largest crude oil and natural gas producer in south-east Europe, has achieved significant results in the exploitation of the Jusaly block in Kazakhstan, the Romania-based company said in a statement on Thursday. It has revealed the possibility to raise the maximum daily output to 200,000 cubic meters in natural gas and 70 cubic meters in compressed gas, according to a statement of the company on Thursday.

"Intensification of the exploitation and production activities in the Caspian Region is quite important for us, as we want to strengthen our position as a leader in South-East Europe," Werner Ladwein, member of the executive committee in charge of exploitation and production, was cited by the Romanian Rompres news agency as saying.

"We intend to reach a daily output of 30,000 barrels per day (bpd), in the Caspian region by 2010," he said.

In line with a strategy to extend the exploration and production activities in the Caspian Sea area, Petrom finished drilling the Sotuh Rovnaya well in the Jusaly area, Kazakhstan, in December 2005. It was 2, 000 meters in depth.

Petrom carries out exploration and production activities in four areas in Kazakhstan. The agreement for the Jusaly area was signed in March 1999, with a validity period of 25 years, five for exploration and 20 for production.

In May 2005, the exploration stage was extended for two years, to September 2007.

Investments in exploration and production are to stand at 300 million euros per year. The exploration activity alone will need 100 million euros, every year.

Meanwhile, three seismic evaluation programs were launched last year, two on the ground and one in the Black Sea. All the three programs have been finished.

Petrom reported in 2005, an output of 5.21 million tons in crude oil and gasoline and 6.19 billion cubic meters in natural gas. The crude oil output in Kazakhstan stood at 1.1 million bpd.

Source: Xinhua