One day after shutting down exploration in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea, Bulgaria wants Shell to conduct deepwater oil and gas exploration off the Black Sea. Bulgaria would like to reduce its reliance on Russian oil imports and expects to sign a contract with the multinational oil and gas company by the end of October. Shell big on a five-year exploration permit at Silistar and will invest about $21 million into the project and will pay an additional $5.5 million bonus to Bulgaria. The Silistar Block is about 6,893 square kilometers and is expected to produce up to 84 billion cubic meters of gas. Drilling is expected to begin February 2016.
