In January 2019 Albpetrol confirmed that tender calls for the exploration acreage held under the state company administration will be launched in 2019. That statement is in line with an announcement of the Albanian Minister of Infrastructure and Energy who disclosed on 6 December 2018 that tenders will be âsoonâ launched for the offshore acreage located in the Adriatic and the Ionian seas. It is understood that the first blocks to be offered will be the Adriatiku 2, Adriatiku 3, Adriatiku 4 and Joni 5 blocks, however neither detailed information on the acreage nor indications on the timeframe were disclosed at that stage.  The Adriatiku 2 block covers 2,880 sq km. Work carried out in the block includes 2,375 km of 2D seismic (with 2,332 km of gravimetry and 2,386 km of magnetics) acquired in early 1992 and the A2-1X wildcat (the first well ever drilled offshore Albania), plugged and abandoned as a dry hole in September 1993 at a final depth of 3,930 m. The block was previously held by Agip between 1991 and 1993.  Adriatiku 3 covers 1,185 sq km directly to the south of Adriatiku 2. It corresponds roughly to the Ardiatiku 3 block held by Occidental between 1991 and 1999 without its southeastern part which is now covered by the Duressi permit (San Leon). A total of 1,900 km of 2D seismic was acquired by Occidental in the block in late 1991. The company also drilled the A3-1X wildcat, abandoned with gas shows in May 1994 at a TD of 2,251 m (the well is located outside of the present Adriatiku 3 block).  The 698-sq km Adriatiku 4 roughly covers the western part of the former Adriatiku 4 block successively held by Chevron and Agip between 1991 and 2000. A total of 1,574 km of 2D seismic and gravity data were acquired over the block in 1991-1992. Agip made a non-commercial gas/condensate discovery in 1993 with the A4-1X wildcat (located 2 km to the east of the present Adriatiku 4 block). It found 38 MMbbl of 51Â° API condensate and 150 Bcf of gas. A second wildcat, A4-2X, was plugged and abandoned as a dry hole in February 1997.  The 2,268 sq km Joni 5 block covers a frontier area in the southernmost part of the Albanian shelf and deep waters. It is adjacent to the offshore boundary with Greece. Water depth ranges from the coastline up to 1,000 m. The area lies on the eastwards extension of the Apulian Carbonate Platform. Main plays include Cretaceous shelf-edge carbonates sealed by Messinian evaporites and reef-edge talus deposits sealed by mudstones. Three Cretaceous carbonate platform-edge prospects were identified in the Joni 05 block by the previous operators, each showing mean prospective resources in the order of 100 MMboe (Alpha-1, Alpha-2, Beta). Available data for the block includes 2,750 km of 2D seismic acquired in 1992 and 450 sq km 3D seismic acquired in 2009. Couple wells were also drilled nearby including the A5-1X wildcat drilled by BHP and partners Premier and Svenska in 1995. It was plugged and abandoned with oil and gas shows at a TD of 3,298 m without testing. The proposed final depth was 5,000 m with Messinian (Upper Miocene) sandstones as a primary objective, and Pliocene sands and Mesozoic carbonates as secondary objectives.
Albania (East Padan and Adriatic - South Adriatic-Durres) A4-1X