Petroleum industry

Royal Dutch Shell told reporters in Sofia on Tuesday that it will launch an exploratory drilling operation next month in the Han Kubrat oil and gas field off the coast of Burgas in the Black Sea.

The 90-day exploration will commence off the Noble Globetrotter II ship on 1 April 1, about 80 kilometres from Burgas in south-east Bulgaria.

London-based offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation said Shell has hired its Noble Globetrotter II ship to drill a well offshore Bulgaria beginning in the first quarter of 2019, reports SeeNews. 

As expected, ExxonMobil's first exploratory drilling in block 10 has been completed.

According to an official announcement from the Ministry of Energy, exploratory drilling on target Delphyne-1 by ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Cyprus (Offshore) Limited and Qatar Petroleum International Upstream OPC has been completed.

Oil continues to fall after a sharp decline last week, news agencies said.

Investors remain skeptical of OPEC's promises to cut yields and are worried about economic turmoil. Thus, on the New York Trade Exchange, US crude oil fell by more than $ 3 or nearly 7 percent to $ 42 a barrel, which was the lowest price since last June.

Bulgaria's government said that it has approved the transfer of 30% of the exploration rights on offshore Block 1-14 Khan Kubrat to the local branch of Australia's Woodside Energy from the current sole holder, Shell International Exploration and Development Italia, reports SeeNews. 

In January of this year, the world oil market was in rough balance. The annual growth of world oil demand was essentially equal to the growth of world oil supply. Today, world oil supply exceeds demand by about one million barrels per day (about 1 percent of the world oil market). The accumulated imbalance during 2018 has grown world oil stocks and has now led to a sharp decline in prices.

Qatar is to leave OPEC next month in order for the Gulf state to focus on gas production, Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi announced on Monday.

Russia shipped record volumes of crude oil to China in October as independent refiners continued to fill import quotas, while Iranian oil shipments fell on uncertainty over Washington's imposition of sanctions on Tehran, data showed on Nov. 26.

Fuel prices are not set by us, we do not produce crude oil, said Bulgarian Minister of Finance Vladislav Goranov, referring to yesterday's protests against high fuel prices and tax increases for older cars, Focus News Agency reports.

Turkey has hired one of the world's largest oilfield services company, Schlumberger, to help it with offshore drilling in the Mediterranean Sea, Greek daily Kathimerini reported on Oct. 24.