Several oil companies are now scouting for space in Albania thanks to its large oil reserves. The tiny nation produces 350,000 tons of oil annually. The oil rush to Albania is driven by high oil prices, the need for energy security in Europe, and a strategically desirable location close to all European markets.

Large independents and major oil companies have been operating in the
country for a number of years and the government has a clear policy to
attract foreign investment in its natural resource sector. Petroleum
was the first industry to attract direct foreign investments in Albania
when the government successfully negotiated with foreign drilling and
exploration firms for onshore and offshore prospecting. In the last 15
years, the country has licensed drilling to American, Austrian,
Canadian, Croatian, Greek, and Swedish companies.

Similar to the Production Sharing Agreement’s potential, Albania’s
political and business prospects have dramatically improved as the
Country is becoming one of the most pro- business governments around.
Albania is a small country with a population of only 3.5 million.
Consequently, the financial and technical assistance from the EU is
quickly having a dramatically positive effect. The country is being
rebuilt with the help of billions of Euros from the EU in conjunction
with Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) between the EU and
Albania. At the same time, the inflow of investment from Albanians
abroad is estimated to exceed $1 billion annually. As a further
indication of its improved stability and prospects Albania joined NATO
in 2008 and is currently undertaking key steps to become an EU member.

In addition to the greatly improved political and business environment
Albania has a very favorable tax system for petroleum exploration and
development. Royalties on oil production in Albania range from 10% to
15% while taxes on net profits are 50%.

With the above in mind here is the basic concept of the opportunity.
Manas Petroleum is a niche oil company that has been quietly amassing a
massive portfolio of giant on-shore oil projects that are likely to be
low cost producers. Manas now has one of the world’s largest onshore
light oil exploration projects in Albania. It is (safely) in Europe and
only 20 miles north of continental Europe’s largest oil field.
According to the combined conclusions of super-major Shell and a French
company, Coparex, one prospect has the potential to produce over 800
million barrels of light oil. But the project has grown much larger.
The council of ministers recently ratified the production-sharing
contract on the two former Occidental blocks to DWM Petroleum, a
subsidiary of Manas.

Source: PRWeb

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