Sterling contract was made public. The document shows that during the whole period of the contract the quantity of oil produced should have been divided between the state company Rompetrol and the contractor, meaning the companies Enterprise Oil and Canadian Oxy, Antena 3 informs. At that time Sterling did not exist, and according to the document it could not join the deal without the approval of the Romanian state. The state had, through Rompetrol, a participation of 45 per cent to the project while the investor benefited from a percentage of 55 per cent.
According to the contract, the cost of the minimal exploration programme was USD 25 M. All the obligations and expenditures connected with exploration are borne by the investor, not by the Romanian state. The contract from 1992 stipulated that the state does not give to the contractor the ownership right over the reserves of oil and gas. The exploited surface is 4,080 sq km in block 15 Midia and 2,980 sq km in block 13 Pelican. Apart from the exploration expenditures and the quota due to the state, Enterprise Oil should have paid to the state an income tax, and also a rent between USD 5 and 50 per sq km, for the production surfaces. But, Tariceanu Government issued a governmental resolution through which he removed the state from the project, and thus Romania does not have any right now on the reserves of oil and gas from the blocks established in the contract.
Sterling Resources Ltd welcomes the declassification of the 1992 original Petroleum Agreement with the Romanian State and the fact that the National Agency for Mineral Resources (NAMR) posted the document on their website yesterday, a press release informs. Sterling has given the written agreement to NAMR for the declassification of all documents on February 5th and sent a number of letters requesting the Agency to declassify all related documents as soon as possible.
