e shtunë, prill 26, 2008

Large oil find in Albania?


I grew up in Scotland in a fishing town called Aberdeen.
I was a small boy when the oil boom hit and oil was discovered in the North Sea.
Suddenly, everything changed.

The fishing boats moved to a different town.
Aberdeen became the oil capital of Europe.

Almost overnight house prices doubled, as oil workers from the U.S. came to live in Aberdeen. Our local shop was bought and became an American Food Store and none of us locals ever shopped there as it was so expensive - yet it was packed with Americans all day!

Suddenly there were jobs everywhere in the oil business,(and for BIG wages!!) and new firms opening up their offices in Aberdeen.
All this...just because oil was found in the North Sea.

Now oil prices are at a record level of $120US a barrel and it could hit $150US this year!! :-(
(Yes, you better go fill your car up with petrol NOW!)

So what would happen if COMMERCIAL oil or gas was discovered in Albania!?
Now there is a thought!!
I think the problem of foreign investment would be a thing of the past....and every business would be investing as much and as quick as possible in Albania to get cheapest prices before "oil madness" takes over.

DWM, a subsidiary of Manas Petroleum, announced a new exploration project on Monday to refine nine identified prospects of oil and gas reserves in Albania.

"In January, the company announced the find of a vast oil and gas reserve in the north of the country.

The find was based on an independent report compiled by Gustavson Associates LLC on behalf of Manas Petroleum Corporation, which has been awarded a contract by the Albanian government to explore the north for oil and gas reserves.

According to their findings, the unproven reserve holds up to 2.987 billion barrels of oil and 3.014 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

If the oil is capped with a layer of gas, Gustavson calculates the field may total 1.4 billion barrels of light oil and 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

If only gas is present, the reserve is expected to contain 28 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Of the approximately 345 million barrels of oil reserves in the Balkans, 198 million barrels are located in Albania ."

As i say, if this oil or gas is commercial and anywhere near the estimates....then you are going to have SHELL and others keeping a VERY close eye on Albania!!

I just can't get my mind round the figures they are claiming!!
I hope you realise how BIG this could be!

And if these reserves are confirmed at the rates above, then there will be plenty of companies interested in drilling a well to try to get a commercial flow.

Now that would be interesting for Albania!!

You can take a look at Manas website and report on the work here.

1 koment:

Eralda LT tha...

Wow! I'm not sure how I feel about this. It would definively boost Albanian economy, but I have misgivings about how safe it would be for the environment (what checks would there be to insure an environmentally safe operation?).

 
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