The State Service for Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine has decided to grant 20 special permits to Naftogaz of Ukraine for the subsoil use of the Skifske and Dolphin deposits. They involve gas and oil prospecting and production offshore in the Black Sea for 30 years. This was reported by the publication Nashi Groshi.
Context. Gas production in Ukraine has been steadily declining in recent years. According to the GTS Operator of Ukraine, the gas supply from mining enterprises to the GTS in 2020 amounted to 20.2 billion cubic meters, and that is 2%, or 415 million cubic meters less than a year earlier. In 2019, Ukraine produced 20.7 billion cubic meters of gas. The decrease in gas production compared to 2018 amounted to 300 million cubic meters, or about 1.4%. In 2018, production amounted to 21 billion cubic meters.
The deviation from the planned volume of natural gas production in 2018 amounted to 1.0 billion cubic meters, or 6.1%; in 2019—3.3 billion cubic meters, or 18.1%.
According to the CEO of Naftogaz, Andriy Kobolyev, over the past three years, the Naftogaz group companies have received about 60 refusals to grant gas production licenses. And that made it impossible to increase production volumes demanded by the government.
In July, Ukrgasvydobuvannya, a Naftogaz subsidiary, won the rights to use seven gas fields in an electronic auction. "The situation changed only after the introduction of electronic auctions. Our main opponents do not like transparency because they cannot win in an honest competition," Kobolyev said then.
On December 16, 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers allowed Naftogaz to buy out the Yuzovske gas field that has been practically idle for several years.
Last November, the Cabinet of Ministers gave Naftogaz the right to prospect and produce oil and gas on the Black Sea shelf without holding an auction.
Having occupied Crimea, Russia also seized 100 thousand square kilometers of the Black Sea shelf from Ukraine. Now Kyiv controls 40 thousand square kilometers.
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