Ukrnafta implements 100+ API standards, adopts global best practices – CEO
Since coming under state control, JSC Ukrnafta has implemented more than 100 American Petroleum Institute (API) standards in its production operations, which has significantly improved performance and, for certain types of equipment, tripled the time between overhauls, the company’s Chairman of the Board Bohdan Kukura said.
"Ukrnafta has already implemented more than 100 API standards. The company purchases equipment from global manufacturers produced according to API standards from Germany, the United States and Saudi Arabia. These include, for example, electric submersible pumps that operate in oil wells. Just two years ago, the overhaul interval for such equipment was 200 days, which is not very efficient by global standards. Now the company’s average is approximately 500-600 days, while for foreign-made equipment it is more than 700 days," Kukura said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He explained that this means the equipment can operate for one to two years without repairs or replacement, which clearly has a positive impact on production performance and offsets all additional costs associated with its purchase.
"Given that before the company came under state control, old Russian or Soviet equipment was used here, we replaced the Zhiguli vehicles with Mercedese vehicles, and everything started working much better," Ukrnafta’s CEO said.
According to him, Ukrnafta is also keeping pace with global companies in automation, for example, jointly with Weatherford, implementing liquid chemical dosing systems.
"More than 100 dosing units have been installed at wellheads in the field; they are programmable and partially powered by solar panels," he said, describing the situation.
In addition, the company is implementing remote control of the operating modes of pumpjacks, fully automating their operation so that personnel at a remote location can monitor and adjust them online.
"We do not plan to move away from the best standards and practices. And I am glad that all employees understand the importance of these technologies and are getting used to working specifically with high-quality equipment," Kukura concluded.
As reported, in this interview Kukura said that Ukrnafta’s drilling plan for this year calls for 15 wells to be completed. At the same time, he suggested that the balanced drilling program could make it possible to increase this figure (last year, the company set a drilling record, bringing the figure to 25 wells).
According to him, a total of 11 wells have already been drilled since the beginning of the year, including those drilled jointly with Ukrgasvydobuvannia. He noted that Ukrnafta’s cooperation with Ukrgasvydobuvannia had proven effective, and the companies jointly drilled three high-flow-rate wells, each 4.5 to 5.6 km deep.
At the same time, Kukura noted that due to the intensity of Russian shelling, Ukrnafta has been forced this year to allocate an additional UAH 2.5 billion to protect equipment, funds that could otherwise have been allocated to production development.