Bulgaria re-launches Han Tervel Block oil & gas exploration tender

The long-awaited Han Tervel tender procedure has been opened for bidding following the adoption of the Council of Ministers’ decision dated 23 August 2023 and its recent publication in the Official Journal of the EU.

The deadline for submitting applications will be 17:30 EET (Bulgarian time) on 5 November 2024 and the deadline for submitting offers will be 17:30 EET (Bulgarian time) on 20 November 2024. 

The price of the tender documents will be BGN 10,000 (EUR 5,000) and the documents can be purchased from the Ministry of Energy.

The recent extraction developments in the Black Sea and large discoveries in the Romanian and Turkey Black Sea, combined with the recent takeover of the Han Asparuh block by OMV Offshore Bulgaria, are the likely driving forces behind the tender.  

The large Han Tervel block, located in offshore Bulgaria, borders the Turkish Sakarya natural gas discovery with a total volume of reserves expected to exceed 710 billion cubic meters. As a result, it is expected that the tender will attract major players in the field.

UK-based Vintage Petroleum carried out limited exploration in the area in 2002 to 2007. Currently, offshore exploration in the Bulgarian waters of the Black Sea is only taking place in the Han Asparuh block by OMV Petrom. To the west of Han Tervel is the Han Kubrat (formerly Silistar) block where exploration rights were granted to Shell, Woodside and Repsol between 2016 and 2021.

The parameters of the tender include:

• the location (i.e. Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone in the southern Bulgaria Black Sea coast and close to Turkey’s maritime border);
• the area’s size (4,032 square km);
• the bid participation deposit amount (BGN 15,000 or approximately EUR 7,500);
• the specification that the bidder must prove a generated total net income of EUR 150 million in sales for the last three financial years;
• each bid will also be evaluated on the basis of the proposed work programme and funds allocated for environmental protection;
• The minimum mandatory work programme must include the following: acquisition of new 3D seismic surveys, the preparation of a geological model to delineate prospective drilling targets, an assessment of oil and gas potential and the optional drilling of an exploration well.

For more information on this tender and how to participate in it, contact your CMS client partner or these CMS experts: Kostadin Sirleshtov, Denitsa Dudevska, Viktoriya Dimitrova.