In Albania a fascinating exploration project is underway. As you know Albania is only a short distance across the
Adriatic sea to Italy. On the Italian side several kilometers below the surface, 80,000 BBLs of Oil flow from only 30 wells
or thereabouts. More importantly the decline rates are rather minimal due unique carbonate geology, high pressures
and above average fractures that occur naturally. On the Albanian side, it is believe the same geology as Italy could
present an amazing oilfield from 18-35 Km long with potential to hold north of 500MM barrels of oil. A Company called
PetroManas Energy is currently drilling the second of 4 exploration wells, which could reach total depth very soon. If
this well flows commercial quantities of oil, we could see the largest discovery of oil in onshore Europe in 50 years. This
video explains the trick in finding it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7FXCTP-8RWQ
Shpirag-2 flowed for 3 days, proved oil is there and flows to surface. Following Shpirag-2 shell farmed in for an
additional % upto 75%, so petromanas has 25% of the play. The current well has been drilling for 1.1 years and is the
largest hole size ever attempted in Albania. Shell kicked in $100MM so far, and if the field is really 500MM Barrels, then
a 25% stake yields 125MM barrels in the ground valued at $10 each adding up to $1.25Billion for little Petromanas.
This could net a 20X return over the next 2 years for investors who recognize the play and it’s unque geological story. I
blog about exploration at CrOblet.Org and I believe energy to play an important role in protecting against the US Dollar,
but I advocate exploration should never make up more than 3% of a balanced portfolio.