ABL sets up shop in Romania to expand its Black Sea footprint

ABL, part of the Oslo-listed energy and marine consultancy ABL Group, has opened a new office in Constanta, Romania, to support the offshore energy and maritime markets in the Black Sea.

According to the company, the Romanian office was the next logical step after the first regional office was opened in Bulgaria in 2003, followed by an office in Türkiye. Aside from catering to the oil and gas and maritime markets, ABL Romania is also expected to participate in the country’s growing plans for renewable energy and transitional technologies.

Ian Cummins, Regional Managing Director for ABL Europe and West Africa, commented: “ABL has been at the forefront of supporting the delivery of some of the Black Sea’s biggest steps in energy development, including Romania’s first offshore oil and gas project in approximately 35 years, the Midia Gas Development Project. 

“Launching ABL Romania cements our commitment to the safe and sustainable delivery and operations of the country’s oil & gas infrastructure, whilst expanding our diverse engineering and consultancy offering to support Romania’s transition to a net-zero future.”

Headed by Director Alexander Shterev, Principal Surveyor of ABL Bulgaria, as manager, with support from ABL Bulgaria’s Country Manager, Lyubomir Djambazov, the office will provide a full range of technical services, such as offshore technical due diligence, rig inspections and rig moving, marine inspections and surveys, marine warranty survey, renewable energy consultancy, maritime services, including ports consulting, and energy transition engineering, including expertise in carbon capture technology. 

“Romania is an important market for renewable energy development in the Black Sea. As well as having a favourable natural resource potential, its government recognises the critical importance of diversifying its energy mix for both national and international energy security. It has therefore sanctioned supporting policies for renewable energy development. With wind, solar PV, CCUS and hydrogen all being actively looked at, we have the services and track-record to support Romania in its net-zero ambitions,” said RV Ahilan, Chief Energy Transition Officer at ABL Group.

Last month, ABL was hired by LLOG Exploration to provide marine warranty survey (MWS) services for a development project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, after being selected as the tow master during the month before for an FPSO destined for Brazil. That same month, Shell picked the firm’s asset management software Effio to support several of its large-scale newbuild developments.