Naftogaz commissions gas well with daily flow rate of 580,000 cubic meters

MOSCOW. May 24 (Interfax) - The Naftogaz Group's JSC Ukrgazvydobuvanniya has commissioned a 5,800-meter prospecting well with a current daily flow rate of 580,000 cubic meters of gas, said Alexei Chernyshov, the group's head.

"Recently, Ukrgazvydobuvanniya commissioned a new prospecting well with a depth of 5.8 km. The well is currently yielding 580,000 cubic meters of gas per day," Ukrainian media quoted him as saying on social networks.

This is the eighth high-yield well that Naftogaz has put into operation since the beginning of this year.

Chernyshov said the new well had opened up prospects for a previously unexplored block at a field in eastern Ukraine.

Naftogaz said on its website, citing its head, that the block's resources were estimated at more than 6 billion cubic meters.

It said preparations were underway to drill another two wells at the block, one prospecting well and one exploration well. The field has significant prospects but a complex geological structure with deep lying faults. The gas deposits discovered are located in a high-temperature section with abnormally high formation pressure.

The group said that previously it had been impossible to tap promising deposits at significant depths at the field due to the absence of technology.

"We recently carried out advanced 3D seismic surveys there, which made it possible to design the prospecting well. The well has a complex inclined configuration. Drilling and research was a major challenge for the team of geologists, drillers and geophysicists. We will continue our efforts unlock the block's potential of this block," said Oleg Tolmachev, the acting head of Ukrgazvydobuvanniya.

He said the well was drilled by a team from the Shebelinsky division of the Ukrburgaz Drilling Directorate in conjunction with the LKKVO specialized emergency rescue service. Geophysical surveys were carried out by specialists from the state-owned Ukrgazpromgeofizika and LLC Weatherford Ukraine.

Ukrgazvydobuvanniya commissioned a well with a daily flow rate of more than 460,000 cubic meters in March 2023, the most powerful in past 2.5 years.

It aims to boost its own gas production by 1 bcm to 13.5 bcm in 2023. Production fell 3% to 12.5 bcm in 2022.

Naftogaz owns 100% of Ukrgazvydobuvanniya.