Ukraine's UkrGasVydobuvannya receives generators as humanitarian aid from foreign partners
MOSCOW. March 7 (Interfax) - JSC UkrGasVydobuvannya has received about 120 generators with different power outputs worth over 50 million hryvni as donor assistance from 11 countries over the past eight months, Ukrainian media said, citing the Naftofaz Group website.
"Thanks to these generators, we produce gas regardless of whether electricity is available or not and continue to work on increasing our own production," Naftogaz CEO Alexei Chernyshov said.
In particular, UkrGasVydobuvannya has received power equipment from the United Kingdom, Poland, France, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Norway, Switzerland, Japan, Belgium, Lithuania, and Italy.
The delivery of generators became possible thanks to the Ukrainian Energy Ministry, which in the spring of 2022 started to work on attracting donor support to maintain the uninterrupted operations of energy companies during the crisis, Naftogaz said.
"The assistance provided by the government and foreign donors, who have responded to our requests, has played an important role in stabilizing our work and Ukrainian gas production in general," UkrGasVydobuvannya acting general director Oleg Tolmachev said.
In conditions of the crisis, the company managed to minimize losses during gas production and is now planning to increase gas output, Tolmachev said.
It was reported earlier, citing the Naftogaz CEO, that Ukraine plans to increase natural gas production to nearly 19 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2023.
"This year, we [UkrGasVydobuvannya] have an ambitious goal - to produce an additional 1 bcm. We expect private producers to boost their output as well. Thus, we will be able to have approximately 19 bcm of Ukrainian gas in 2023," Chernyshov said.
Unofficial estimates put Ukraine's overall natural gas production in 2022 at some 18.5 bcm, or 6.6% less than in 2021. UkrGasVydobuvannya, which is 100% owned by Naftogaz of Ukraine, produced 12.5 bcm of commercial gas last year, which is 3% less than in 2021.