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Vantage Drilling cancels drillship contract, citing

sanctions

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Industry sources say contract was with Russia's Lukoil

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Trident discovery could hold 30 billion cubic meters of

gas

By Robert Harvey and Luiza Ilie

LONDON/BUCHAREST, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Oslo-listed Vantage

Drilling cancelled a contract to drill next year, which

two industry sources told Reuters on Wednesday was with

sanctioned Russian oil major Lukoil for exploration at

its Romanian Black Sea Trident gas discovery.

The cancellation is the latest sign that Lukoil's overseas

energy empire is buckling under the weight of U.S. and British

sanctions, coming just days after it declared force majeure at

its Iraqi oil field - the company's most prized foreign asset.

Vantage Drilling initially announced the cancellation of a

260-day contract for its drillship Platinum Explorer on October

19 without disclosing the location or client. Britain had

imposed sanctions on Lukoil and fellow Russian oil company

Rosneft three days earlier.

Vantage Drilling declined to comment directly on the two

sources' assertion that the contract had been with Lukoil.

"Vantage terminated the contract because the applicable

sanctions made its performance unlawful," it told Reuters.

Lukoil did not respond to a request for comment.

The Russian company holds an 85% interest in the Trident and

Est Rapsodia blocks alongside Romanian state-owned gas producer

Romgaz. Following a six-year hiatus it had restarted procedures

to resume exploratory drilling in 2026.

Romgaz did not respond to Reuters' request for

comment.

Trident, which Lukoil said in 2015 could contain at least 30

billion cubic meters of gas, is among the high-profile

discoveries in the Black Sea that energy majors including Shell

and OMV are trying to tap in hopes of replacing lost Russian gas

supplies with domestic EU production.