Petroleum and gas exploration begins in Adriatic Sea – Montenegro signs concession agreement

Montenegro signed a concession agreement on the hydrocarbon production in the Montenegrin coastal area with the Italian-Russian consortium Eni-Novatek on Wednesday, September 14, marking the start of exploration of petroleum and gas in the area after seven years.

The agreement was signed by the Minister of Economy, Vladimir Kavaric, and representatives of the consortium Carlo Vito Russo and Andrei Popov, in the presence of the prime minister of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, the Cdm portal reports.

– By using the Norwegian system, we will form a petroleum and gas fund, to set aside assets for the state budget. I'd like to express my gratitude to our partners, who will invest considerable funds in this exploration and take all the risks upon themselves in the process – Djukanovic said after the signing of the document and emphasized that energetically independent countries have their own stability.

Minister Kavaric said that they had chosen the best for the job.

– The parent companies have signed an agreement which envisions compensation for potential damage caused by exploration and exploitation of petroleum and gas. The cooperation has been successful so far and we hope it will continue that way – he said.

Environmentalists have called the search for oil in the Montenegrin coastal area a “death sentence”, whereas the Ministry of Economy says that this decision will lead the country towards the production of energy sources.

Ministarstvo ekonomskog razvoja Crne Gore

petroleum and gas exploration in Montenegro

Eni

Novatek

concession for production of hydrocarbon in Montenegrin coastal area

Vladimir Kavaric

Carlo Vito Russo

Andrei Popov

Milo Djukanovic

petroleum and gas fund