The oil and gas company JKX Oil&Gas with its main assets in Ukraine, after a change of management, abandoned plans announced in the summer of 2021 to sell assets in Hungary for $3 million and decided to develop them, the head of the company’s board of directors, Mykhailo Bakunenko, told the Interfax-Ukraine agency.

“The further goal of JKX Oil&Gas is to create a mid-sized energy company in Central and Eastern Europe,” he said.

As Bakunenko pointed out, the previous chairman of the board of directors presented the Hungarian assets as having no potential and offered to sell them, the company received several offers, but each time the deals fell through at different stages.

“With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, we decided to take a risk and take a closer look at the possibilities of Hungary,” noted the new head of the board of directors.

Bakunenko clarified that a year later, specialists carried out a new 3D seismic survey using highly qualified experts and the most modern design processes, and after processing and interpreting the data, geological modeling was carried out and drilling targets were determined.

According to him, preparations are already underway for the drilling of two gas wells: the drilling of the first is scheduled for April of this year, and the second in another field for June 2024, and by the beginning of 2025, it is planned to drill a well at an oil asset.

“If the explored wells are productive, the company will continue to implement investment projects, which may have more than ten wells in total. Then Hungary will become a priority market,” he noted.

He added that the company also has an operating gas processing plant capable of processing 500,000 cubic meters of gas per day, as well as its own connecting pipeline to the regional gas network and an extremely qualified technical team.

According to Bakunenko, also after analyzing the data, it turned out that assets in Hungary contain the main prerequisites for the development of geothermal energy: temperatures above 170° C and a favorable geological structure.

“We are already negotiating with potential partners to develop this area,” he said.