Exxon Mobil to abandon gas production in Black Sea

Exxon Mobil Corp. has agreed to sell its 50 percent stake in a deepwater natural gas project in the Black Sea to Romania’s state-owned Romgaz SA for $1.06 billion, Report informs referring to Bloomberg.

The deal hinges on Romgaz SA obtaining approval from shareholders, according to a regulatory statement to the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Exxon confirmed the agreement in an emailed statement.

Exxon will turn over the operatorship of the Neptun Deep project to Bucharest-based OMV Petrom, which owns the other 50 percent stake once the transaction closes. The two companies spent more than $1.5 billion in exploring and appraising the project since Exxon first invested in it in 2008, according to OMV Petrom.

Headquartered in Texas, Exxon Mobil is one of the largest private oil companies in the world. In Russia, the company participates in the Sakhalin-1 project - the development of the Chayvo, Odoptu and Arkutun Dagi oil and gas fields on the Sakhalin shelf (ExxonMobil and Japanese Sodeco have a 30 percent share each, Rosneft and Indian ONGC - 20 percent each).