In accordance with the current data, volumes of commercial gas produced by JSC Ukrgasvydobuvannya amounted to 6.81 billion cubic meters of natural gas in January-June 2019, which is 50 million cubic meters more compared to H1 2018.
It is worth noting that in H1 2019 UGV increased production of condensate and oil as compared to the same period of 2018. 195 thousand tons of condensate (186.5 thousand tons for the corresponding period of 2018) and 40.3 thousand tons of oil (39.5 thousand tons in 2018) were extracted.
The Company transferred 1.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas extracted from an exhausted resource portfolio, for the needs of the population during June while the volume of basic production amounted to 780 million cubic meters in January-June 2019, which far exceeds the previous estimates.
The existing deposits are increasingly depleted, and UGV begins to experience the results of numerous refusals of local authorities to approve special permits for new sites and extend the boundaries of existing sites. In particular, 63 refusals were obtained from the Poltava Regional Council over last 4 years.
According to the approved production plans, production would have start in 2019 at the sites where the Company obtained refusals in 2016, and at year-end 2019, production volume at such sites would have been 1.7 billion cubic meters. In this regard, it is increasingly difficult for the Company to keep pace with growth of production and compensate the growing volumes of natural decline every month. Therefore, in order to expand the resource portfolio, the Company actively participates in electronic auctions of State Service of Geology and Subsoil and tenders of the Ministry of Energy for conclusion of production sharing agreements.
It should be noted that the strategy of Ukrgasvydobuvannya is focused on maximizing cost-effective production. In addition, considering that the main objective of UGV is to ensure natural gas production for the needs of the population, the Company will monthly report volumes of commercial gas.