Sterling Resources cancels stake sale to Melrose Resources

Newsroom 03/11/2010 | 16:53

Canada’s Sterling Resources announced it had cancelled its sale to Melrose Resources of a 32.5 percent stake in licenses to develop the Pelican and Midia blocks in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea. Company representatives, quoted by Herald Scotland – say that the sale was canceled due to “inability to obtain assignment approval”.

Melrose agreed in December 2008 to pay USD 12 million for the stake in what it had been presenting as a new core area of exploration.

Sterling officials said initially that the company would be able to start drilling at the blocks in the fourth quarter of this year after the farm-out to Melrose was completed.

Midia contains the undeveloped Ana and Doina gas fields, which Melrose estimated to contain gross combined probable reserves of 345 bcf of gas. Sterling has said the two blocks could contain more than one billion barrels of oil equivalent of oil and gas.

Melrose Resources was also awarded two offshore blocks in its own right from Romania’s tenth licensing round in June. The blocks are in the shallow waters of the western Black Sea and were qualified as “highly prospective” with both oil and gas potential.