PJSC Ukrnafta is preparing to drill two wells #32 and #34 at the Verkhnemaslovetske field in Lviv region, the company’s press service said on Thursday.
Both wells are planned as directional and exploration and production wells.
Well No. 32 with a depth of 1,250 meters is expected to uncover the Stryian deposits. According to the digital 3D geological and hydrodynamic model of the field, the current recoverable oil reserves in the productive horizons of the Stryy formation amount to 1.121 million tons. The initial production rate is expected to be 42.5 tons of oil per day.
Well No. 34 will be drilled to a depth of 1,550 meters to the mesolithic deposits. The current recoverable oil reserves in the productive horizons of the Mnemiolite formation amount to 464 thousand tons. After the well has developed the drained reserves of the Menelitic deposits, it will be transferred to the overlying horizons of the Stryian deposits. The initial flow rate is 30.1 tons per day.
“The facilities will be built by a contractor with experience in western Ukraine, Horizons Drilling Company LLC, selected through a transparent procurement procedure, and will be completed on a turnkey basis,” said Sergiy Koretsky, Ukrnafta’s CEO.
As reported, in late June Ukrnafta announced a tender for the construction of three inclined wells at the Verkhnemaslovetske field with an expected cost of UAH 184 million (excluding VAT). The new facilities are to be commissioned by June 30, 2024. The new wells should discover promising deposits within the field discovered in 2000.
In total, four new wells are planned to be constructed at the Verkhnemaslovetske field in 2023 and five more in 2024. These will be both directional and horizontal wells.
“In 2023, Ukrnafta plans to increase oil production by 5.8% (by 0.077 million tons) compared to last year to 1.447 million tons, and gas production by 0.3% (by 0.003 million cubic meters) to 1.04 billion cubic meters.
On November 5, 2022, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s Office decided to seize Ukrnafta shares (except for the controlling stake in Naftogaz of Ukraine) as military property for the duration of martial law. Before the seizure, the structures of Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholyubov owned about 42% of Ukrnafta shares.
TAS Agro Group has made the first shipment of 1,500 tons of rapeseed oil to consumers in China, the agricultural holding’s press service reported on Facebook.
It is specified that TAS Agro has been processing rapeseed, sunflower and soybeans on a tolling basis at its partners’ plants for the second year in a row. As explained in the agricultural holding, in conditions of low profitability, increasing the added value of products through the development of processing is perhaps the only way to achieve a positive result.
“The realities of wartime force farmers to change, be flexible, and look for new strategic solutions. TAS Agro made the right decision to start processing rapeseed, as it is more profitable to sell oil than raw materials. Last season was the first experience of processing for our agricultural holding, and the financial results are positive,” said Anton Zhemerdeev, Deputy CEO for Commercial Affairs.
According to him, the agroholding has added new specialists to its team and is now focused on extending logistics to end consumers and opening new markets to generate additional margins.
TAS Group was founded in 1998. Its business interests include the financial sector (banking and insurance segments) and pharmacy, as well as industry, real estate, and venture capital projects.
Before the war, the TAS Agro group of companies cultivated 83 thousand hectares in Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kherson, and Dnipro regions, was engaged in dairy farming (up to 5.5 thousand cattle), and owned six elevators with a one-time storage capacity of 250 thousand tons.
The founder of TAS is Sergey Tigipko.
International retail chain JYSK opened a store in the Vega shopping center in Bila Tserkva on Thursday after renovating and expanding its retail space, the retailer’s press service reported.
According to the report, the store’s retail space has increased from 890 sqm to 1077 sqm, and the warehouse area has increased from 140 sqm to 213 sqm.
The store has been updated in accordance with the modern concept of the 3.0 chain with a new layout and design. The store also features three exhibition areas. A new canteen and dressing room have been equipped for employees.
As reported, since the beginning of 2023, JYSK has opened five new stores and renovated three existing ones.
Currently, there are 88 JYSK stores and the online store jysk.ua in Ukraine. According to the company, this number should increase to 100 by 2024. JYSK has more than 800 employees in the country.
JYSK is part of the family-owned Lars Larsen Group with more than 3.2 thousand stores in 48 countries.
JYSK’s revenue in the financial year 2022/23 amounted to EUR 5.2 billion.
Benchmark crude oil prices continue to climb on Thursday afternoon amid a weaker US dollar.
November Brent crude futures on the London-based ICE Futures exchange at 14:29 Q2 are trading at $93 per barrel, up $1.12 (1.22%) from the previous session’s close.
WTI crude futures for October delivery rose $1.14 (1.29%) to $89.66 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).
The expected increase in global oil demand by 1.5 million bpd in the second half of 2023 compared to the first half of the year will outstrip supply by 1.24 million bpd, according to a report published the day before by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The IEA estimates that the balance of the global oil market turned into a deficit in the third quarter as more supply cuts coincided with record high demand.
Meanwhile, the DXY index, which shows the value of the U.S. dollar against six major world currencies, is down 0.03%, boosting the attractiveness of commodities quoted in the U.S. currency.
In Ukraine, oil producers are loaded with raw materials, which caused the collapse of domestic purchase prices for sunflower seeds, the sunflower market will pass the “price bottom” in mid-October, according to the analytical cooperative “Pusk”, established within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Rada (VAR).
“Domestically, processing plants have started to collapse sunflower prices, as they have contracted the necessary volumes of raw materials for September. There are factories staffed with oilseeds a month in advance, others – for one or two weeks. Accordingly, processors will buy raw materials in a wide price range of 10500-12500 UAH/ton”, – analysts explained and expressed hope that in the first weeks of October the market will see the lowest prices for sunflower.
According to experts, despite the ban on sunflower imports to five neighboring EU countries, Bulgaria contracts Ukrainian sunflower and many agreements have already been signed. Although Bulgaria has not officially announced the imminent lifting of bans on imports of Ukrainian grain, but trade in this direction is very active.
“A certain decrease in vegetable oil prices on the global market will support the current downward price trend in the Ukrainian sunflower market,” the BAR forecasts.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has decided to cut its key policy rate again to 20% per annum from 22% per annum, effective September 15, in line with market expectations.
“Taking into account the balance of risks, the rapid decline in inflation and the ability to maintain exchange rate stability, the NBU Board has decided to cut the key policy rate to 20% (…) Further slowdown in inflation and the NBU’s ability to ensure exchange rate stability allow the NBU to continue the cycle of rate cuts while maintaining sufficient attractiveness of hryvnia savings. Such a step will support economic recovery and at the same time does not pose a threat to macrofinancial stability,” the central bank said on its website on Thursday.
The NBU noted that price dynamics were better than the NBU expected, primarily due to an increase in food supply, in particular, good harvests contributed to lower prices for cereals, flour, vegetables and some fruits.
“At the same time, the decline in core inflation (to 10% yoy in August) was close to the NBU’s July forecast. The NBU’s measures to ensure the attractiveness of hryvnia assets and the stability of the foreign exchange market played an important role in easing underlying price pressures. In particular, they contributed to further improvement of exchange rate and inflation expectations,” the central bank added.
It is noted that the general downward trend in inflation will continue, but the potential for a rapid slowdown is almost exhausted.
“On the one hand, better harvests will limit price growth in the coming months. The impact of fixing certain tariffs for housing and communal services will also remain,” the NBU explained.
The NBU will continue to ensure the stability of the foreign exchange market to keep exchange rate and inflation expectations under control, which will contribute to a further decline in
On the other hand, the pressure on business costs will be significant due to both war-related losses and rising electricity and fuel prices, which may restrain the slowdown in inflation, the NBU added.
In the future, the NBU expects to continue the cycle of key policy rate cuts, the implementation of which will be consistent with the need to maintain the attractiveness of hryvnia assets as a prerequisite for the stability of the foreign exchange market and a steady decline in inflation.
