Exxon, Petrom Find Gas in Black Sea Shelf

Energy giants ExxonMobil and OMV Petrom said Saturday they have found gas deposits in the Romanian part of the Black Sea continental shelf, a month after they began explorations in the area.

"The first deepwater well drilled by ExxonMobil and OMV Petrom indicates the presence of natural gas," the two companies said in a press release.

"This is encouraging but it is too early in the exploration and assessment process to say if the deposit will prove commercial or not," they added.

The companies began drilling offshore late last year in a bloc lying 170 kilometers (105 miles) east of the Romanian coast, at a depth of about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet).

The bloc is part of an area awarded in 2009 to Romania by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) after a decades-old dispute with Ukraine.

An Exxon official, Ian Fisher, last year said that the U.S. company planned to invest between $3 and $10 billion if a major discovery was made.

Experts say the 9,700 square kilometer (6,000 square miles) area recovered by Romania in 2009 may contain up to 100 billion cubic meters of gas and 10 million tons of oil.