Energy, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Oil, Transport

Valdis Dombrovskis (right) at the oil drilling platform in the Baltic Sea. Photo: flickr.com

The drill hole has currently reached 525 meters deep.

As the company informed the business information portal Nozare.lv, the drilling is expected to reach 1,500 meters below sea-level.

Representatives of Balin Energy acquainted Dombrovskis with the platform ship ''Ocean Nomad'' today and informed the prime minister of their progress. It is planned that drilling will continue until the second-half of June.

The prime minister believes that if the search for oil deposits is successful, it would give the country additional economic activity, especially in Liepaja Region (southwestern Latvia), LETA was informed by the prime minister's press secretary Martins Panke.

The prime minister also said that he highly values the company's risk investments in Latvia. He also came to the conclusion that the drilling team on the ''Ocean Nomad'' is very professional and uses the most modern technologies, and that the strict environmental protection instructions are being taken into account.

As reported, Balin Energy, a joint venture of Poland's refinery PKN Orlen SA and Kuwait Energy Co., has begun drilling in Latvian territorial waters in the Baltic sea, searching for possible oil deposits.

Three weeks ago, the platform ship ''Ocean Nomad'' arrived at the drilling site approximately 104 kilometers off Latvia's western coastline. The drill was set up on May 12.

The drilling will take place about 30 days where the depth of the Baltic sea reaches 132 meters.

The drilling will allow the company to get better acquainted with this territory and find out whether there are enough hydrocarbons for commercial drilling.

Balin Energy was issued a drilling license to search Latvian waters for oil deposits in 2009.