Polish national energy company PGNiG has signed an agreement with Energy Resources of Ukraine (ERU) to cooperate on gas exploration and production projects in western Ukraine, near the Polish border.
In the first phase, an exploratory well up to 2,500 meters deep will be drilled, with a geophysical survey to be carried out to design the location of subsequent wells. Exploration activities will start after obtaining all the necessary approvals and permits.
“We are proud to announce today, with PGNiG, this important step for Ukraine’s E&P [exploration and production] sector. Working together with our Polish partner over the past four years, we have seen the positive improvement in Ukraine’s investment climate and look forward to jointly developing and investing in this new area. We see this as the first of several opportunities in Ukraine’s energy sector over the coming years,” said ERU’s managing partner, Dale Perry.
“We are consistently pursuing our strategy to expand PGNiG’s foreign operations. The agreement we have signed today will allow us to explore natural gas in a very promising region,” said Piotr Woźniak, president of the management board of PGNiG, adding that he is confident that the partnership with ERU will contribute to the value of both companies.
Mr Woźniak noted that there were strong grounds to assume a high hydrocarbon potential in the Lviv region, similarly to the Przemyśl deposit, the largest natural gas field in Poland. “We will certainly be able to put to use in Ukraine the extensive experience and know-how that we have gained over 60 years of E&P activities in the Przemyśl deposit.”
Currently, 0.48 billion cubic metres of gas per year are produced from the Przemyśl deposit, on the Polish side of the border. Due to recent geophysical surveys and a reanalysis of previously collected data, PGNiG expects that the deposit may contain an additional 20 billion cubic metres of gas.
