London, 30 July (Argus) — UK-listed Melrose Resources has made a new gas discovery near two recent finds in the Bulgarian Black Sea.

The Kavarna East 1 well provided preliminary reserve estimates of nearly 340mn m³ of gas, in line with earlier expectations. Melrose expects to develop the find as a tie-in to existing infrastructure.

The find is between the Kavarna and Kaliakra discoveries, which together hold reserves of nearly 2.1bn m³ of gas for development as a tie-back to the existing Galata platform.

Galata was the first offshore gas field in Bulgaria, which Melrose brought on line in 2003-04. The firm stopped production in January last year, to begin conversion of the field to a storage facility, leaving around 225mn m³ of cushion gas in place.

Bulgaria is almost entirely dependent on Russian gas imports, producing just 6.5pc of national consumption in 2008 and only around 1pc last year following Galata's closure, according to the energy ministry.

But the country is on the route of both proposed southern corridor gas pipelines — the Gazprom-led South Stream project, and the OMV-led Nabucco scheme. State-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding, which controls Bulgargaz and Bulgartransgaz among other firms, owns a 16.67pc stake in the Nabucco development company. It is party to co-operation agreements with Russia's state-controlled Gazprom pertaining to South Stream development.

Following the success of the Kavarna East well, Melrose will acquire seismic data over an area further to the north of the block next year to assess additional prospects.

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