Britain’s oil and gas company Regal Petroleum Plc with assets in Ukraine boosted average daily production in 2018 at the MekhediviskaGolotvshinska (MEX-GOL) and Svyrydivske (SV) gas and condensate fields (both are located in Poltava region) by 67% or 1,088 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) compared with 2017, to 2,717 boepd.
According to a company press release, totally gas production at the two fields last year came to 341,216 cubic meters (a rise of 72.3% on 2017), and condensate production – 70 cubic meters (a rise of 48.9%) and LPG output – 36 cubic meters (a rise of 50%).
Average daily production at the Vasyschevskoye (VAS) gas and condensate field in Kharkiv region in 2018 grew by 11.2%, to 674 boepd. Average daily gas production rose by 10.1%, to 94,752 cubic meters and condensate – by 26.1%, to 8.2 cubic meters.
In Q4 2018, average daily production at the three fields totaled 4,139 boepd, which is 48% more than a year ago (2,803 boepd).
The company said that At the MEX-GOL field, preparations are continuing for the drilling of the MEX-119 well. At the VAS field, acquisition of additional 3D seismic is underway, to complete the acquisition of a field-wide 3D seismic data set.
Energees Management, part of Smart-Holding of Vadim Novinsky, holds 54% in Regal.
The operating company responsible for the oil and gas sectors in the structure of the DTEK energy holding – DTEK Oil & Gas – has become the holder of 24.99% shares in private joint-stock company Kyivoblenergo earlier belonged to VS Energy International Ukraine LLC.
According to a report of Kyivoblenergo posted in the information disclosure system of the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market, VS Energy now holds 33.60788% shares in the company.
As reported, early January 2019, DTEK announced its intention to build up 68.2949% of shares in JSC Odesaoblenergo and 93.9978% in JSC Kyivoblenergo owned by VS Energy Group.
DTEK was established in 2005 to manage the energy assets of Rinat Akhmetov’s System Capital Management Group (SCM, Donetsk). The corporation performs functions of strategic management of the group’s enterprises, which constitute a vertically integrated chain of coal production and washing, production and sale of electricity.
VS Energy International Ukrainе owns shares in the following companies: Kyivoblenergo, Rivneoblenergo, Khersonoblenergo, Kirovohradoblenergo, Zhytomyroblenergo, Odesaoblenergo, Chernivtsioblenergo, Sevastopolenergo. Also, the company owns large stakes in Mykolaivoblenergo and Khmelnytskoblenergo.
According to the unified public register of companies, the ultimate beneficiaries of VS Energy International Ukraine are citizen of Germany Marina Yaroslavskaya, as well as citizens of Latvia Vilis Dambins, Arturs Altbergs and Valts Vigants. Ukrainian media and politicians also named several Russian businessmen as beneficiaries of the company.
DTEK Oil & Gas extracted 1.649 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas in 2018, which is almost the same as in 2017 (1.65 bcm), the company’s press service has reported.
The press service said that in general, the gas production target was met by 103%.
The company produced 51,500 tonnes of gas condensate, which is 4.6% less than in 2017 (54,000 tonnes).
At the end of the year, DTEK Oil & Gas drilled wells No. 25 and No. 61 at the Semyrenkivske field, finalized an investment project for the construction of a propane-refrigeration unit, which was launched at the Olefirivska gas pre-treatment unit in September 2018.
In addition, major overhauls were carried out to intensify production at the existing well stock, as well as a condensate stabilization gas utilization compressor at the Olefirivska gas pre-treatment unit and Semyrenkivske gas pre-treatment unit were equipped and launched, which make it possible to increase the environmental friendliness of the fossil fuel production process.
“In 2018, we confirmed our record high thanks to the increase in the efficiency of work with the existing fund and the introduction of modern technologies. We managed to produce an additional 100 million cubic meters of gas thanks to innovation,” DTEK Oil & Gas CEO Ihor Schurov said.
DTEK Naftogaz LLC intends to increase natural gas production in 2019 by 10-12% (by 170-200 million cubic meters) compared to the expected production in 2018, to 1.8 billion cubic meters, manager on regulatory issues in the company Yulia Borzhemska has said during the XVI International Forum “Fuel and Energy Complex of Ukraine: Present and Future” in Kyiv.
According to the agency’s calculations, taking into account DTEK gas production in January-September 2018 in the amount of 1.242 billion cubic meters, the expected production in the current year will be 1.66 billion cubic meters.
“Next year, thanks to innovations, we will have a growth of 10-12%,” she said.
As reported, DTEK Naftogaz plans to achieve production of 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas until 2023.
DTEK Naftogaz is an operating company responsible for the oil and gas sector within DTEK energy holding. The assets portfolio of DTEK Naftogaz includes Naftogazvydobuvannia and Naftogazrozrobka, which carry out hydrocarbon exploration and production on three license areas in Poltava and Kharkiv regions.
Ukrainian enterprises in October 2018 imported gas at an average price of $323.44 (UAH 9,059.13) per 1,000 cubic meters, according to the website of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade.
Thus, the price of gas imports in October was 6.3% higher than in September, when it was $304.36 (UAH 8,490.33) per 1,000 cubic meters.
The price in October 2018 is the highest since February 2015 when gas was imported to Ukraine at $328.60 per 1,000 cubic meters.
As reported, the price of gas imports per 1,000 cubic meters was $272.93 (UAH 7,784) in January 2018, $276.96 (UAH 7,430) in February 2018, $274.57 (UAH 7,154) in March 2018, $309.91 (UAH 8,100) in April 2018, $260.01 (UAH 6,806) in May 2018, $266.35 (UAH 6,960.18) in June, $288.82 (UAH 7,594) in July, $286.65 (UAH 7,910) in August, and $304.36 (UAH 8,490.33) in September, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade said.
Earlier, Chief Commercial Officer of Naftogaz Ukrainy Yuriy Vitrenko said the average customs value of imported gas published by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade is not representative.
JSC Ukrtransgaz has created a new branch – Operator of Ukrainian Gas Storage Facilities, which will be responsible for the provision of gas storage services and operation of underground gas storage facilities.
The company said in a press release that the branch would consolidate all assets, processes and employees required for the provision of gas storage services. It is planned that the branch will start operating at a full capacity from January 1, 2019. The branch will function as a structural unit of Ukrtransgaz, without establishing a separate legal entity.
Ukrtransgaz is conducting preparatory work on the legal and organizational design of the operation of the branch, the redistribution of production and business processes, an inventory of existing assets and the transfer to the new branch of more than 1,700 specialists who support the operation of Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities.
“The creation of the operator is a consistent step towards the qualitative completion of the unbundling process, as a result of which the operator of Ukraine’s GTS [gas transmission system] will be finally separated from Ukrtransgaz after the current transit contract with Gazprom terminates,” Ukrtransgaz President Andriy Khomenko said.
Ukrtransgaz, a wholly owned subsidiary of Naftogaz Ukrainy, operates Ukraine’s gas transmission system and 12 underground gas storage facilities with 31 billion cubic meters of capacity.
