Austria’s RAG inks farm-in deal for Romanian oil and gas permit

Austria’s Rohoelaufsuchungsgesellschaft (RAG) has inked a farm in deal with Australia-based ADX Energy for its Parta licence in the onshore southern Pannonian basin area of western Romania.

RAG will make an undisclosed, upfront payment to earn a 50% stake in the permit.

The forward work commitment for the Parta Permit requires the acquisition of 2D and 3D seismic and the drilling of three exploration wells. ADX will retain a 50% interest and operatorship.

ADX stated it has already received €3.1m in funding for the seismic programme and plans to drill exploration wells shortly.

The acreage covers seven excised oil and gas fields and is estimated to contain a recoverable mean prospective resource potential of 47 million barrels of oil and 480 billion ft³ of gas at shallow target depths of between 800m and 2000m.

The farm in deal is subject to approvals by the National Agency for Mineral Resources (NAMR) of Romania.

The company signed the concession agreement with the NAMR in January 2011 and is currently awaiting final governmental approvals.