Naftogaz commenced the bathymetry survey in the Black Sea, identified a location for a new well at the Yuzivska area and selected the wells for recovery at PSA areas, said Oleksandr Romaniuk, Director of the Exploration and Production Division, at the Ukraine Energy Forum.

As part of the resource base development strategy, Naftogaz started exploration and development at the strategic areas the access to which was granted to the company by the Government. This March Naftogaz received permits for 30 areas in the water area of the Black Sea. In December 2020, the company acquired 100% in Nadra Yuzivska LLC holding the license to the Yuzivska area and signed with the Government the production sharing agreement for 4 new areas.

“We have developed accelerated plans for our strategic assets. Our goal is to decrease the exploration period of new areas to 2-3 years. For example, as part of PSA we plan to receive the first gas at the Ivanivska area in 2022 due to the recovery of the old wells. In order to implement the strategic projects, we engage international partners and already signed MOUs with some of them. However, the success of this cooperation depends on the Government’s support. There is a number of regulatory issues to be solved, like the continued stimulation rent, procedural issues related to the PSA implementation, and procurement simplification,” Oleksandr Romaniuk said.

As informed earlier, for surveys in the water area of the Black Sea Naftogaz selected the Norwegian company Petroleum Geo-Services as a contractor to perform 3D seismic surveys. It already commenced preparatory works, namely the bathymetry, and will proceed to geological surveys in the coming months.

According to Romaniuk, the company intends to recover wells drilled 20-60 years ago at the Yuzivska area. Moreover, following the analysis of the available geological data, the location for a new well has already been selected. The start of its drilling is scheduled for late 2021.

As part of the production sharing agreements, Naftogaz obtained permits for new areas and commenced the processing and reinterpretation of the 2D seismic surveys of the previous years. The recovery of the earlier drilled wells and the drilling of new wells are scheduled for early 2022. Now the preparation for the procurement of the 3D seismic survey services is underway.