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Conflict of interest? Albpetrol awards tender to Sokol Meqema oil concessionaire to repair the well of a former offshore concessionaire

2025-07-03 11:11:06Fokus SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Albpetrol, Sokol Meqemeja

The hydrocarbon reserves in Albania have a not-so-glorious history, especially after the 1990s, when most of them were given as concessions to private companies, who have exploited them as much as they could and then left them in ruins. Even the big concessionaires, those who administer Patos-Marinza, always come out with losses, a scheme commonly used to avoid paying taxes or dividends.

Meanwhile, the state-owned hydrocarbon company, Albpetrol, was supposed to have the role of a controller to find and denounce abuses, but history has shown that its officials have been closely linked to the private firms themselves. In fact, some former directors have become big businessmen, while oil fields have been passed from one hand to another, all with the aim of losing track.

Scandals continue to occur in recent days or weeks, both in the offices of Albpetrol in Tirana and in the offices of Patos. In these lines, the editorial staff of Vox News has documented another suspicious case of a pure conflict of interest. A concessionary firm that has received several oil fields from the state itself has won a tender from Albpetrol. Moreover, this concessionary firm should do a job that a former concessionary firm should have done, which after exploiting the oil field left it destroyed.

Conflict of interest? Albpetrol awards tender to Sokol Meqema oil concessionaire
Facsimile: Decision of the Council of Ministers on the agreement for the Frakull natural gas field

Three years ago, on June 9, 2022, the Council of Ministers approved a hydrocarbons agreement between the state-owned company Albpetrol and the EDG firm, majority owned by Mr. Sokol Meqemeja. This businessman, in addition to Frakulla, also exploits the gas field in Delvina.

According to documents available to Vox News, the Council of Ministers bears the number 401 and is entitled "On the approval of the Hydrocarbons Agreement with Production Sharing for the Development and Production of Hydrocarbons in the Frakull Natural Gas Field, between Albpetrol and EDG Naryral Gas".

On the same day, the government approved the agreement between Albpetrol and the EDG company for the Povelçë-Fier natural gas field.

Conflict of interest? Albpetrol awards tender to Sokol Meqema oil concessionaire
Facsimile: Announcement of the winner of Albpetrol's tender for the repair of a well

The document above is the announcement of the winner of a tender by the state-owned company Albpetrol. The winner was the company EDG Service. The object of the tender is “elimination of the breakdown in the CA-58 well”.

"Through this form, we inform you that the economic operator 'EDG SERVICE', a company that has offered for this tender a total economic value of 32,410,000 lek excluding VAT, participated in this procedure," the documents state. So, there was only one company in the competition, which naturally emerged as the winner.

Conflict of interest? Albpetrol awards tender to Sokol Meqema oil concessionaire
Facsimile: The owner of the company EDG SERVICE is Mr. Sokol Meqemeja

Vox News reviewed documents from the National Business Center, which show that the winner of the tender for the repair of the "CA-58" well is the EDG company, owned by Mr. Sokol Meqemeja.

The same owner has also won concessions in Frakull, Povelça and Delvina, while also winning another tender announced by Albpetrol.

Conflict of interest? Albpetrol awards tender to Sokol Meqema oil concessionaire
Facsimile: The well that EDG will fix was left broken by the former concessionaire Stream Oil

But what will the EDG firm fix?!

The documents state that the company "Albpetrol" has oil and gas extraction fields under its administration. "The company carries out underground repair procedures in the wells of most of these wells with its own tools (cleaning tractors, diesel probes, electric probes, electric jacks, etc.).
In the Cakran-Mollaj well, there is the CA-58 well, which has been in serious disrepair since August 2014, when the Cakran-Mollaj well was under the administration of the Stream Oil&Gas company. The nature of the damage is that it has remained plugged (Packer) at a depth of H = 2458.8 m, blocking the layer-well communication and putting the well out of operation. The last works carried out in the well to eliminate the damage date from 08.06.2017 to 05.01.2018, spending more than 350 hours of work with a ≥ 70 Ton probe but without result because the well continues to be blocked," it is written in these documents.
So, a concessionaire will fix the damage left half-done by a former concessionaire. Is this a maneuver by Albpetrol to later pass on the Cakran-Mollaj field to Meqemes?!

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This article is exclusive to VoxNews, and is copyrighted under Law No. 35/2016, "On Copyright and Related Rights". The article may be republished by other media only by citing VoxNews and placing the source link at the end, otherwise any violator will be held liable under Article 178 of Law No. 35/2016.

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