Chevron, already looking at shale gas exploration in Poland, Romania and Ukraine, is expanding its presence in the European shale gas sector by moving into Bulgaria. The Bulgarian government in June awarded Chevron a five-year exploration license for the Novi Pazar block covering a 4,400 square kilometer area in the northeast of the country.The government said Chevron would invest some €50 million ($71 million) at the site, and would spend €4 million on environmental protection measures. Chevron was reported to have offered €30 million for the license, beating the UK's BKN Petroleum into second place in the auction.The Novi Pazar shale gas deposit is estimated to contain between 300 Bern and 1 Tern of shale gas. Bulgaria's energy minister Traicho Traikov was quoted as saying by the Sofia News Agency that Bulgaria's shale gas deposits "should be able to guarantee its domestic consumption of gas for the next 1,000 years."
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