Since taking over the 19 petroleum fields from OMV Petrom on August 1st Mazarine Energy Romania team performed a thorough well-by-well analysis that resulted in a wealth of well workover and intervention proposals the company successfully completed with minimal costs 32 workovers and more than 150 well interventions These activities resulted in the re-activation of three previously not producing oil fields representing a prime example of mature field rejuvenation Glodeni and Valcanesti fields are back into production after many years of sitting idle Mazarine Energy Romania plans to intensify the activity of workover and interventions on its wellstock in the same manner environmental impact and good relations with the local communities Mazarine Energy Romania announced that it has completed the acquisition of 3D-seismic surveys over its biggest producing fields – Ileana (Muntenia region) and Campeni (Moldova region) The surveys were planned and executed within six months from taking over the fields from OMV Petrom Seismic data processing and interpretation over the Ileana fields is already completed and company’s specialist geoscientists have already identified several new drilling locations Mazarine intents to start drilling in Q3 2018 Processing of 3D-seismic data is ongoing in Campeni and Mazarine expects to mature drilling prospects for Q4 2018 Our professional team has delivered a great piece of work establishing Mazarine Energy as a solid independent E&P operator in Romania process and interpret 3D-seismic over the largest fields and is now ready to start infill drilling In parallel we performed more than 100 well interventions and workovers and have raised production by more than 25% Penny Market has opened a new unit in Campeni bringing its total number in the county to seven has a sales area of 850 sqm and employs 15 Penny Market is operated by German group Rewe, which also has eight XXL Mega Discount stores on the local market. Rewe sold its 86 Billa stores in Romania to Careffour in December, planning to focus on the development of Penny Market, according to its general representative, Frank Hensel. The group opened 11 stores last year in our country with a median investment of EUR 2 million per store We use cookies for keeping our website reliable and secure providing social media features and to analyse how our website is used This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Spencer Coca is Country Manager at Mazarine Energy Romania srl subsidiary of Dutch company Mazarine Energy BV He studied geology and graduated master with ‘magna cum laudae’ at the University of Salzburg (Austria) He first worked as a field geologist at Shell International Exploration & Production (SIEP) at The Hague offices and at the research centre in Rijswijk (the Netherlands) in charge with onshore deposits development plans in Nigeria He then worked for Shell Libya Petroleum Development in charge with mature and heavy oil redevelopment projects There he held various oil engineering and development manager positions at Shell Malaysia and Indonesia He returned to the country after 24 years in order to take over the position of director of the division for deposits and later director for oil engineering with the OMV Petrom SA group He was in charge with all onshore and offshore redevelopment and management projects in Romania and was the liaison officer between the company and NAMR the projects initiated and developed by Spencer Coca have led to proven reserves of more than 200 million barrels of oil equivalent and to more than 1,200 new drilling projects He has received several distinctions for works and presentations at international congresses and is an active member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) He is involved in extracurricular activities acting as president of the Romanian Federation of Speleology and member of the National Association of Mountain Rescuers in Romania You have an impressive business card and you have accumulated huge experience in the oil and gas industry How do you assess the evolution of the hydrocarbons market in Romania Romania holds probable hydrocarbon reserves in excess of 1 billion barrels oil equivalent (boe) thus being one of the leading European countries in this domain If we consider only onshore petroleum reserves these hydrocarbon reserves need to be developed and produced in order to benefit the Romanian economy Every country in the world that is lucky enough to have natural resources will transform these into a benefit for their nation The Romanian oil and gas market needs on one hand more competition while on the other hand a more predictable legal framework that implicitly encourages investment The Romanian petroleum industry has suffered badly from the late oil price crash which has left a negative mark in all companies’ budgets the attractiveness of the Romanian petroleum sector to foreign investment has diminished over the last couple of years partly triggered by the repetitive postponement of the exploration acreage bidding round Mazarine Energy has entered the Romanian market because it firmly believes that there is remaining potential in the existing reservoirs and because it wants to invest for the long term When and why have you joined the Mazarine Energy team I joined the Mazarine Energy team in early 2015 because I am convinced of the winning vision and entrepreneurial strategy of the company After a long carrier in large corporations one should try the speed and spirit of a smaller company How did the history of Mazarine Energy start and which were the criteria considered in order to enter the Romanian market Mazarine Energy was founded in 2013 by the Dutch entrepreneur Edward van Kersbergen who acquired exploration acreage in Tunisia and Australia In the Zaafrane concession (Tunisia) Mazarine Energy managed to acquire 3D seismic and drill exploration wells in only 18 months from becoming title holder The wells discovered a new oil and gas field and have also highlighted the potential for a new larger structure that will be drilled and tested in 2018 the discovered field has been developed and entered into the production phase In Romania Mazarine Energy wishes to apply their knowledge technology and necessary funding in order to increase the recovery from existing mature fields only 10% of oil fields benefited so far from dedicated advanced recovery projects (IOR/EOR) although many more fields are suitable for these technologies we need to mention that Romania offers a qualified workforce that is competitive at international levels and on which Mazarine Energy fully relies We are proud to say that in Romania we employ only Romanians that it has agreed to transfer 19 onshore oil fields three overhaul facilities and the related teams to Mazarine Energy Romania The business transfer agreement implies the takeover of the title to the 19 petroleum concession agreements including operatorship Mazarine Energy has further taken over the entire staff base associated with the fields and we intend to further develop the employees in terms of new operational methodologies and ways of working we have taken over all obligations derived from the concession agreements as were existing at the time between OMV Petrom and the National Agency of Mineral Resources (NAMR) The fields at hand are in various stages of development and prospectivity Mazarine Energy has drafted re-development plans for each of them and these will be implemented in the period 2017 – 2020 Through this investment campaign we hope to extend the economic life of fields beyond 2028 we have also taken over from OMV Petrom a small electric power generation business that is based on two Gas-to-Power (G2P) plants with an installed capacity of 4.8 MWh and which we want to expand Currently we are working on a feasibility study to assess further growth in this area by installing more G2P units in other areas rich in associated gas Mazarine Energy Romania has become holder of the oil exploration-development concession agreement in the Ileana block having the responsibility to carry out oil operations in accordance with the contractual provisions of this agreement which oil operations will you actually carry out In the Ileana field Mazarine Energy has already kicked-off with a 3D seismic acquisition survey which we intend to finalize as soon as possible Our technical experts will then incorporate the data into complex 3D geomodels that will be used to plan new well locations For 2018 we plan to drill at least five new development wells we have initiated a water-injection pilot project that will be started next year we plan to develop the Ileana tank farm into the main crude processing hub for all our Moesian Platform fields What opportunities for production optimization and overhaul to increase production do you consider What is the stage of the seismic acquisition campaigns to identify the structures that have not yet been drilled We are convinced that without the acquisition and proper interpretation of 3D seismic data no company can ascertain the entire potential of Romanian oil fields Compared to other petroleum basins in the world Romania has a very small 3D seismic coverage (around 10%) Mazarine Energy intends to acquire 3D seismic over at least 50% of our acreage we have already initiated two such projects in the Ileana and Câmpeni concessions which will be followed next year by another campaign that will cover three other fields from our portfolio In terms of production increase our target is to double the existing production in the next two years This will happen through a large workover and well intervention program in existing wells which on average will encompass 100 wells per year Our success will depend first and foremost on our ability to control costs which currently (and despite the low oil price environment) are not competitive a new well of the kind we plan to drill in Ileana would be 35-40% of the cost in Romania According to a press release from OMV Petrom the overall daily production of these 19 fields was of about 1,000 boe/day in 2015 Which are the Mazarine Energy’s estimates (as percentage) I wish that Mazarine Energy starts to leave a mark in the Romanian petroleum industry Until the end of 2017 I expect a 20% production increase On the long run our goal is to become the largest independent petroleum company in Romania We want Mazarine Energy to be the company people wish to work for On top of that our expectation is to grow the energy business and consolidate our position in this market segment Does the company also consider other investments in Romania or in the region in the future We are in Romania for the long run and we are open to any opportunity out there We watch the market continuously and are considering investing up to 500 million USD what tools does a manager have to increase efficiency and give more value to the business What strategic decisions are priorities on your agenda a manager needs to evaluate and strictly control production costs The key to success is not in applying overall cost cutting exercises but rather in very targeted areas It is always amazing to see how much cost saving potential exists without creating a negative impact on the organization and most difficult to maneuver lever is to increase production at a low cost Here we are talking about a full range of operational measures to optimize the existing production system the strategic decision is how he or she wants to shape the organization by imposing a certain “modus operandi” that in turn will influence the performance of each employee My number one priority is to build a team of professionals sharing the same vision about the future of the company