Is the game changing in the Adriatic oil and gas drilling project? After Marathon Oil and OMV pulled out, so too, it is claimed have ExxonMobil.
It has been an extraordinary couple of days for those following the proposed Adriatic oil and gas project in Croatia's waters. As TCN reported yesterday, Marathon Oil and OMV returned seven of the ten licences awarded, citing uncertainties with a border dispute Montenegro as a significant reason. Their departure from the projet was confirmed by the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency. Read the article here.
In further developments, Novi List is claiming that they have unofficial information that ExxonMobil has also decided to abandon their interest in the Adriatic, with one premise being that the decision is more related to the lifting of sanctions with Iran as part of the recent nuclear deal. Iran has the fourth largest proven oil reserves in the world. Read the Novi List (in Croatian) article here. It should be stressed that ExxonMobil has not been granted one of the ten licences, but they were looking at cooperation with one of the licencees, INA.
In a separate development, Dalje reports that INA is considering its position in light of the recent changes:
"INA is currently in the process of analysing the draft agreement proposed by the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency, as well as the newly-risen circumstances," INA said in its official response to HINA when asked if the company had already made a final decision regarding the signing of the agreement on the exploration and exploitation at two locations in the southern Adriatic, after a consortium of the US Marathon Oil Corporation and Austria's OMV had decided to pull out of the agreement."
More news on this topic as we get it...
