Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu has met representatives of US energy giant Chevron in Bucharest to discuss the start of shale gas drilling in Romania.

Chevron, the second largest oil and gas company in the US, recently lost the opportunity to conduct shale gas exploration and production activities in neighboring Bulgaria over environmental concerns, Romanian news agencies remind.

The American ambassador to Bucharest Mark Gitenstein also attended the meeting in Bucharest, according to local news sources.

During the March 06 meeting, an anti-shale gas protest was held in front of the Economy Ministry in Bucharest.

Chevron has won the right to carry out shale gas exploration activities in the Barlad county.

At the end of last year, Chevron's director for Romania Thomas Holst announced that the company would start drilling for shale gas the first months of 2012.

Hungarian MOL and Canadian Sterling have also shown interest in shale gas development in Romania.

Following widespread protests, on January 17, the Bulgarian government revoked a shale gas exploration permit granted to US Chevron for deposits in Northeastern Bulgaria, citing the insufficient proof of the environmental safety of hydraulic fracturing.

On January 18, the Cabinet imposed an indefinite ban on hydraulic fracturing, a method which involves injecting a mix of water, sand and chemicals at very high pressure deep underground to crack rock and release oil and gas.

Despite the move, Bulgarian environmental activists launched new initiatives in end-February, insisting that the ban should be enshrined in a law.

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