ALTHOUGH MORE STATES ANNOUNCED THAT THEY INTENDED TO GIVE UP HYDRAULIC FRACTURING  Chevron: "We shall continue shale gas exploration in Romania"

Shale gas exploration in Romania will continue, the Chevron American company representatives stated. The officials pointed out: "We got all the necessary approvals in order to start the exploration activities in Puieşti village and we have also fulfilled a part of the necessary conditions for the approvals to drill exploration wells in three other villages in Vaslui county (Băceşti, Găgeşti and Urdeşti). We are analysing the information received during the drilling operations and the one got following the geo-physical investigations in order to understand the potential of natural gas resources from argillite. At the end of the analysis, the results will be delivered to ANRM (the National Agency for Mineral Resources) and they will be held under the custody of the state. The confidentiality of this type of information is kept under the law of Romania". The Chevron representatives told us that the decision related to the planning of the future operations from Bârlad municipality area will be based on the results obtained following the geo-physical studies and the exploration drilling at the well near Siliştea, Pungeşti village, Vaslui county.

The American company continues its operations in the Central and Eastern Europe, according to the cited source. "In Poland, Chevron assesses the results obtained following the geophysical studies that have been recently completed and the drilling of a new well will begin this year, in collaboration with the Polish oil and gas company, PGNiG. In Ukraine, we are focusing on settling an operations agreement with Nadra Oles'ka and on fulfilling the conditions related to the adoption of favourable laws before being able to start the exploration activities", the Chevron representatives stated.

• Radulian, NIEP: "The State must monitor Chevron activity"

The Scientific Director of the National Institute for the Earth Physics, Mircea Radulian, stated that the State must monitor Chevron exploration activities, at the same time with the monitoring carried out by the American Company, in order to have a "different perspective on the issue".

He made it clear: "In case of hydraulic fracturing there is a certain level of seismicity and micro-earthquakes might appear, but only in the area where these drillings are performed. Those repeated earthquakes that took place in Izvoarele village in Galaţi county have diminished lately. This is a matter that we are still analysing, but I can say that those phenomena are not related to the explorations performed by Chevron, because they performed works in Vaslui county. In Izvoarele we dealt only with the movements of the tectonic plates".

According to the information provided by Chevron representatives, the drilling activites at the well near Siliştea village, Pungeşti village (Vaslui) were started on May 1, 2014, after the safety and performance checks have been made, and have been completed without incidents, in June.

Mircea Ţicleanu, the Scientific Director of the National Institute for Geology (IGR), has recently stated that the shale gas exploitation through the hydraulic fracturing method can contaminate all the drinking water supply network in the country. The specialist estimates that in the countries where the shale gas is exploited, accidents of waste water handling, of intentional spills into rivers, of gas atomization in the atmosphere, pollution with heavy metals and radioactive elements have been recorded as well as phenomena of destroying the road infrastructure and noise pollution.

Recently, more States have expressed their intention to give up hydraulic fracturing, following their announcement related to the intention to enact this procedure or they even authorized the beginning of the shale gas exploration and/or exploitation.

Chevron Romania owns three environmental agreements in Vaslui county for the shale gas exploration in Păltiniş - Băceşti, Popeni - Găgeşti and Puieşti villages. The oil company also got in April 2014, the second building permit for the arrangement of a new exploration well in the perimeter owned in Puieşti.