British company Melrose Resources announced on January 21 that it plans to start extracting gas from a Black Sea field off Bulgaria by mid 2009, Associated Press said.

The announcement followed a successful exploration project.

A company media statement said the exploration well was near the Galata gas field. "Due to the high quality of the reservoir, flow testing was not required and the well has been suspended for use as a production well," the media statement said.

The company estimated the reserves in the immediate vicinity of the well at 198.2 million cu m, saying there was an "additional upside in the field" of over 1.132 billion cu meters.
The total size of the field would become clear after a period of production, the media statement said.

Bulgaria, which was almost completely dependent on energy supplies from Russia, opened its Black Sea shelf for exploration in 2001, AFP said.