Top oil producer Ukrnafta seeking partners to co-develop two dozen oil and gas fields

Ukrnafta, Ukraine's largest oil and natural gas extracting company, has begun to look for partners for the joint development of 21 deposits: ten in the west of Ukraine and 11 in the east. The company's website states that these are studied deposits with sufficient reserves, but low production rates.

"If we talk about reserves of the 2P category, that is, proven and probable reserves, it is more than 12 million tons of oil and more than 31 billion cubic meters of gas," said Ukrnafta director Serhiy Koretskyi.

Potential partners are expected to be willing to invest money and technology in exploration and production.

Product distribution agreements will be preferred. This means that the investor receives the rights to search, explore and extract minerals in a specified area of the subsoil at their own expense and risk, in exchange for receiving a reward in the form of a part of the production.

Ukrnafta's contribution will be the field and the right to use the existing extraction infrastructure, and the partner's contribution will be a devised field development plan for the intensification of production and financing of works.

The agreement will have to be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

At the beginning of November 2022, the state took control of Ukrnafta. It was headed by Serhiy Koretskyi, who previously held the position of CEO of the WOG gas station network.

In May 2023, Ukrnafta announced plans to double oil production. The company's strategic plan envisages increasing oil production from 1.5 million tons per year to 3.0 million tons per year, drilling 40 new wells.

In July 2023, Ukrnafta took control of four gas companies that are developing the Sakhalinske oil and gas condensate field, led by Ukrnaftoburinnya, one of the largest private oil producers in Ukraine.