For the first time, Ukraine has been included in the world rating pf operating oil and gas drilling rigs by Baker Hughes GE Rig Coun, in which it took the leading position in Europe in terms of the number of machines involved in drilling.
According to the press service of the Association of Gas Producers of Ukraine, which initiated including Ukraine in this rating, in May 186 drilling rigs operated in Europe (44 offshore platforms), almost half of which (84) worked in Ukraine.
Turkey (20 working machines) and the United Kingdom (16) follow Ukraine in the ranking, the association said.
“Over the past three years, Ukraine has carried out important reforms in domestic gas production, which consisted in improving the regulatory field and modernizing the relevant legislation. These changes are already noticed not only by Ukrainian but also by foreign investors – our country is becoming more attractive for them. Including Ukraine in the BHGE Rig Count index is extremely important because it demonstrates revival in the domestic market and serves as a good indicator for the leading gas producing and service companies to come to Ukraine,” executive director of the association Roman Opimakh said.
Two new drilling rigs with a carrying capacity of 450 tonnes from China’s Sichuan Honghua Petroleum Equipment arrived in Odesa seaport late on Monday, the press service of JSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia has reported.
Ukrgazvydobuvannia Board Chairman Oleh Prokhorenko said that as of 2016, the average age of drilling rigs of the company was 23, and the average age of drilling rigs in Russia was 10 years and in Belarus – nine years.
“Finally, Ukraine has begun to invest in the development of its own gas production, its own drilling fleet and the exploration of its own resources. The arrival of these new drilling rigs is one of many concrete steps that will increase gas production in Ukraine,” he said.
As reported, late 2017, Ukrgazvydobuvannia signed a contract with Bentec GmbH Drilling & Oilfield Systems (Germany) to supply five drilling rigs with a capacity of 450 tonnes (2,000 HP) for $110 million. The first rig was delivered to the company in October 2018.
It is also planned to buy ten Chinese drilling rigs with a capacity of 450 tonnes.
