American company to perform exploration of oil, gas in Moldova

Chisinau, 3 March /MOLDPRES/- An American company will perform exploration of oil and gas in central and southern Moldova. A document to this effect was signed by the Moldovan government and Frontera Resources company today.

Prime Minister Pavel Filip said that the company was an American investor of confidence, which had worked over 20 years in Eastern Europe and Black Sea, in the area of exploitation of oil and gas. “We see a growing interest of foreign investors in our country. We will make every effort further to increase the attractiveness to them, as it means – enterprises will be founded, jobs will be created, wages paid and taxes collected. Therefore, I welcome it, as our country has great potential, including energy, and we want better exploration of this area in the coming years to achieve energy independence, lower prices and absence of any geopolitical mixtures”, Filip said.

For his part, Chief Executive of the Frontera Resources company Steve C.Nicandros thanked the Moldovan government for the confidence provided. “Our work is to perform works of exploration of oil and gas. Thus, next five years we will deal with their search, being ready to invest 6 million dollars in this period, and if we have success and identify natural resources, we will invest about 50 million dollars in performing works. We will employ about 200-300 people at the enterprise, then their number will grow”, he said.

Attending the event, Environment Minister Valeriu Munteanu noted that during the 50s and 60s, such research had been conducted showing at that period that there were reserves of oil in Moldova. “There is more extensive research including Moldova, I am referring to the Black Sea, Ukraine and Romania, so there are definite prerequisites in terms of detecting reserves of gas and oil. According to national legislation, a company looking for natural resources and finds them, has the right to extract later. In this situation, Moldova has the most to gain, especially, in terms of energy security”, he said.

Exploration works will take place on about 1/3 of the territory of Moldova, beginning with Ungheni to Basarabeasca.

(Reporter A. Plitoc, editor A. Răileanu)