Consultant digs into Romania’s rich oil history !
By Patrick Reynolds
July 2004
HOUSTON – An American oilfield drilling consultant is learning first-hand how deep the roots of oil drilling reach into the soil of Eastern Europe.
Stan Barrett, a contract consultant for Signa Engineering, arrived in Bucharest, Romania, recently to manage the drilling of a 10,000’ exploratory well for Forest Oil Corp. Upon his arrival to the lush countryside, Barrett was immediately impressed with the diverse heritage of the locals, coupled with their knowledge of English language and culture, he said in a recent e-mail.
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“Virtually everyone I met in the first hours after I landed spoke English…What a pleasant surprise! I was also surprised to find that the Romanian language was of Latin origin,” Barrett said. “I don’t know what I had expected…Russian, I guess. But I’ve learned there are many similarities between Romanian, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese languages.”
The Romanians were quick to share tales about the country’s past and current events, he said. Many of the topics they discussed seemed like an effort to overcome a social stigma that Romania has suffered in Europe throughout the last half-century.
“The people are friendly, open, helpful, and apparently trying to overcome a reputation as the most corrupt government in Europe,” Barrett said. “They’re desperately trying to recover from 50 years of Soviet domination, and view that period as penance for supporting Hitler in World War II.”
The locals also shared information on the area’s rich oil history, an integral part of the country’s past that dates back more than a thousand years.
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Romania’s geographical location has helped it maintain a significant natural wealth throughout history. Since the ruling of the Roman Empire, the country’s mountains, sparkling mineral waters, thermal spas, vineyards and agricultural potential has ensured its significant natural bounty. The country’s soil is also very rich with petroleum deposits, placing the country among the top European nations in terms of oil resources.
The Romans – for whom the country bases its name – were among the first people to tap into Romania’s great abundance of oil, Barrett learned.
“The oil business goes way back here,” Barrett continued. “The locals are quick to point out that Romanian oil was first exploited by the Romans, who mined the tar pits for their warships. The ‘recent oil history’ even goes back 150 years…”
Extending inland halfway across the Balkan Peninsula and covering a large elliptical area of 237,499 square kilometers (91,699 sq. mi.), Romania occupies the greater part of the lower basin of the Danube River system and the hilly eastern regions of the middle Danube basin. It lies on either side of the mountain systems collectively known as the Carpathians, which form the natural barrier between the two Danube basins.
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Oil deposits are found in the flysch formations that run in a band along the outer rim of the Carpathians and through the Sub-Carpathians. Deposits in the plains, notably Videle, have been produced since World War II. Production is also increasing in Arges (Pitesti). The Bacau and Prahova districts have long been famous for their oil-refining industry.
Ploiesti, in south central Romania, is the chief center of the Romanian petroleum industry. The city is a railroad hub and is linked by oil pipelines with Bucharest and the ports of Giurgiu on the Danube River and Constanta on the Black Sea. It has large refineries and oil storage installations and is an industrial center with varied manufacturers.
Founded in 1596 by Prince Michael the Brave of Wallachia, Ploiesti grew in the 19th century into the largest oil-producing center of Southeast Europe. With 7.2 million metric tons of produced oil in 1937, Romania was the second largest European producer and number seven in the world.
In 1940, during WWII, Romania signed a mutual cooperation pact with the Axis powers that provided a substantial supply of Romanian oil to Nazi Germany. The Ploiesti Oilfields became a major supplier of oil that fueled German tanks and warfare.
On August 1, 1943, United States bombers heavily bombed Ploiesti, severely damaging Adolf Hitler’s last supply of oil in Europe. Americans suffered heavy casualties during the attack, and it was not until the following year that the Allies completely destroyed these oil fields.
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After World War II, Romania nationalized the Ploiesti oil industry, which until then had been owned largely by foreign interests. Under Communist rule, massive investments in the petroleum and petrochemical industries were made in the drive to modernize.
One of the greatest problems facing Romania after World War II – when the Soviet Union demanded the delivery of Romanian petroleum as war reparations – was the very limited development of power stations based on other fuels.
Under a plan that spanned the years 1951-60, and supplemented by later plans, a remarkable rise in power output took place. The foundation for this increase was a series of large power projects, each having a capacity of 200,000 to 1,000,000 kilowatts. Both thermal and hydroelectric plants were built, the largest capacities being installed in the Motru valley lignite field. A nuclear program was launched with Canadian assistance at Cernavoda on the lower Danube.
Oil was discovered in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea in 1981. Natural gases – mainly methane – are produced in the center of the Transylvanian Basin, where gas production is becoming increasingly important to the country’s economy.
Throughout Romania’s years of prolific oil history, albeit many of which are tumultuous, the country appears to have learned to walk the fine line between positive and negative exploitation within the petroleum industry. One of the tightrope acts involves the increase of restrictive environmental regulations by which oil drilling campaigns must follow.
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“This seems to be a very environmentally-conscious society,” Barrett said of Forest Oil’s drilling project. “The cities are clean and well-kept…The countryside is beautiful…. a lush green this time of year. Our drilling location is in the heart of the wine country, and we will be operating under a ‘no discharge’ policy on-shore. The reserve pit is a buried steel tank and all waste must be trucked to an approved disposal site 130 km (78 miles) away.
“The rig was designed and manufactured in Romania,” Barrett said of the rig. “At 400-ton hook load capacity, it is all electric, taking power from the local electrical grid. Most of the rig equipment appears to be Western in origin…I can only hope that it runs as well as it looks.”
For more information about this article, contact Patrick Reynolds at 281-774-3110 or send .
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