DTEK plans to invest $120-130 million in gas production in 2023, the company’s CEO Maksym Timchenko said.
“This year, we plan to invest $120-130 million in mining. 70% of these funds are for the development of new deposits,” he said interview “Forbes Ukraine”.
According to him, most of the company’s oil and gas assets have already passed the production peak, the natural decline in the operating wells is 15-18%.
“The only way to compensate for the decline is to develop new deposits. This year, we are starting to drill on recently purchased licenses… We plan to start drilling on Mayorivska Square in the fourth quarter of 2023,” Timchenko said.
The head of DTEK is convinced that there are huge prospects for gas production in Ukraine at a depth of 6,000-7,000 m. “Thanks to the latest technologies, production at such depths is now paying off,” he clarified.
Timchenko also reported that by the end of 2022, DTEK enterprises had extracted 2 billion cubic meters. m of gas. At the same time, at the end of the year, they had 0.6 billion cubic meters. m in underground storage due to a drop in consumption and a ban on exports, which led to liquidity problems during the first half of this year.
“But now “Naftogaz” still started buying gas. I was skeptical about Naftogaz’s ability to buy gas, but NAK has really entered the market and is actively buying gas. Accordingly, we have liquidity, which allows us to carry out our investment program,” he said.
At the same time, the head of DTEK believes that the authorities “need to constantly expertly discuss with the market the topic of resumption of Ukrainian gas exports, because it significantly affects the development of Ukrainian gas production.”
As reported, in November 2022, the companies that are part of “DTEK Naftogaz” purchased at an open auction the right to develop two gas fields in the Poltava region: Maiorivska Square for UAH 1.102 billion and Birkivsko-Zinkivska for UAH 211 million.
In 2021, “DTEK Naftogaz” increased gas production by 12% (by 0.22 billion cubic meters) compared to 2020 – to 2.06 billion cubic meters. m.
“DTEK” was created in 2005 to manage the energy assets of Rinat Akhmetov’s “System Capital Management” (SCM) group.
