OMV

Bulgaria sealed a deal with Royal Dutch Shell on Feb. 23 to explore for oil and gas in an offshore block in the Black Sea in a bid to end its almost total dependence on Russian natural gas.

OMV is seeking a buyer for Turkish unit Petrol Ofisi, in line with its strategy of focusing on upstream and integrated downstream businesses, the Austrian energy company said on Feb. 12, as reported by Reuters. 

Lukoil Neftochim Burgas, the largest crude oil refinery in Southeastern Europe and the largest industrial enterprise in Bulgaria, retained its third position in the latest annual ranking of SeeNews released on Tuesday.

The company which specialises in the production of fuel, petrochemicals and polymers retained its ranking from 2013.

Further writedowns on Austrian oil and gas group OMV?s ailing Samsun gas power plant in Turkey are possible and the facility could be sold, the head of OMV?s downstream division, Manfred Leitner, told Reuters in an interview.

France's Total is preparing to start drilling for oil and gas off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast in early 2016, Reuters reported.

"It depends on the availability of our contractors when exactly we will start, but everything is going according to the plan," Xavier Faugeras, general manager of Total's Bulgaria division, told Reuters on Monday.

Turkey has developed into a headache for Austria?s OMV, which took a 205 million-euro hit on its Samsun power plant after several quarters of low profits, according to Reuters.

The company?s new chief executive, Rainer Seele, said he saw a ?difficult future? for OMV in Turkey, especially for Samsun, according to Reuters report. 

The Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency announced on Wednesday that a second licensing round will begin in September for exploration areas in both the Adriatic Sea and Slavonia.

The tender will be opened for seven months, during which time interested companies will receive documentation showing the potential for hydrocarbon exploitation and be asked to make a binding offer.

Croatian economy minister Ivan Vrdoljak confirmed on Tuesday that Austrian energy company OMV and US firm Marathon Oil Corporation have decided not to sign contracts for to search for and extract gas and oil from Croatia's Adriatic Sea, one of the country's major energy projects.

The Commission for Protection of Competition (KZK) has launched a sector analysis of the fuel retailing market in Bulgaria.

The watchdog will check for cartel agreements or abuse of dominant position.

In 2011 the antitrust watchdog approved a sector analysis of the gasoline and diesel fuel markets in Bulgaria spanning the period 2009-2011.

The future head of Austria's OMV Rainer Seele appears to be planning a new route for Russian gas to Europe bypassing Ukraine jointly with Gazprom, according to Austrian newspaper Die Presse.

Seele will take the helm at one of the most powerful energy companies in central Europe on 1 July to replace OMV's current CEO Gerhard Roiss, who is set to step down at the end of June.