NIS a.d and its Austrian partner company RAG started to drill a test well („RAG Pirto-1“) in south Hungarian „Kiskunhalas“ Block on January 31, honouring the Contract the two companies entered into late last year. The anticipated drilling depth is 2976 meters. Another two test wells are to be drilled this year, for which the two partners jointly allocated a €10 million budget for 2012. If the prospecting is successful in detecting commercial deposits of hydrocarbons, their extraction may start as early as 2013. In Vienna on 19 December, NIS and RAG signed a joint exploration contract for the exploration and appraisal of Kiskunhalas block in the south of Hungary. In the event of discovering commercial conventional resources, NIS gets 50 per cent share in the future production of this block, while RAG is to become the site operator.
