We will lose about 1 bcm of gas per year without increasing investment - Ukrgazvydobuvannia

PJSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia, without increasing investment, will annually reduce gas production by up to one billion cubic meters (bcm), board chairman of the country's largest gas producing company Oleh Prokhorenko said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, most of the company's wells were drilled during the Soviet era and therefore are constantly losing money and performance.

"To stop this trend and ensure production growth, we must invest in drilling new wells, in such things as equipment for fracturing, production stimulation, etc. These are high tech operations that require modern equipment and high quality consumables. International companies and private companies in Ukraine work this way. They have higher production costs and they are increasing production. This is quite another order of numbers that differs from the current maintenance of existing wells," Prokhorenko said.

In this context, Ukrgazvydobuvannia intends to carry out an operational audit of wells and fields, which will give it an understanding of where, how and by what the company will be able to raise production.