The Rompetrol Group (TRG) started a pilot project to identify new water sources in Romania. The initiative and technical solutions are proprietary to the Company. The project has been presented to scientists and public administrators by Teodor Orasianu, TRG scientific advisor and a member of the Swiss Natural Sciences Society, part of the Swiss Academy of Sciences.
In the first stage, this project proposes to identify drinkable water sources located deep under the surface during oil drilling exploration, that could be used during extreme situations: long draught periods, chemical or nuclear contamination, etc. Priority evaluation will be given to wells situated in high need areas where the long draught conditions in the past several years have created a crisis in supplying drinkable water to the population. Estimates show this first stage closing in September.
Based on results, the project managers will then select an oil and gas well located in one of Rompetrol’s exploration areas, or elsewhere. Rompetrol Upstream already runs an active exploration program of Romanian concessions containing 240 km of 2D seismic acquisition in Gresu, Nereju and Focsani perimeters, and an exploration well in the Zegujani perimeter.
“The Rompetrol Group understands to answer to the needs of communities where it conducts business and contribute to solving the major problems confronting them. We intend to develop this project and expand it internationally, and to mobilize the administration to inventory abandoned oil and gas exploration wells and, where possible, convert some of them into drinkable water wells. We will invite other major oil operators to join TRG in this project, pending results from the pilot phase, because we believe these sort of projects cannot be supported completely from public funds,” said Teodor Orasianu.
This initiative has been inspired by current facts showing 90 percent of Romania’s rural population gets their water from low depth aquifers, which is often contaminated and non-drinkable. The data obtained during drilling will be used to identify high depth water sources and possibly convert exploration wells into water wells, where technical conditions allow.
“Only 3 percent of the world’s water is potable, and from this 1.98 percent is captured in glaciers, 0.59 percent is in underground aquifers, 0.015 percent in lakes and rivers, and the remaining quantity is in humidity of air, soil and plants. We understand the global importance of today’s initiative of capturing high depth aquifers. The solution proposed is geared towards desert and semi-desert areas anywhere in the world,” added Orasianu.