This year Burisma plans to increase the volume of gas production up to 2 billion cubic meters – Taras Burdeinyi
The Burisma Group under control of businessman Mykola Zlochevsky in 2016 seeks to increase natural gas production by 50%, taking into account KUB-Gas – from 1.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) to 1.8 bcm, Burisma Chief Executive for Ukrainian Operations Taras Burdeinyi has said. "This year Burisma plans to drill 16 wells over 4000 m, and 5-7 wells under 4000 m. At the moment, seismic surveys are being conducted at four units at the same time. We put into operation a well with a depth of 5,620 m, which provides a profit of 280 thousand cubic meters of gas and 25 thousand cubic meters of condensate per day. And we have not uncovered the most powerful horizons yet. According to the results of the well exploration, it was taken a decision to drill another well within the Vodyanovsk field. In May, we plan to drill a well with a planned depth of 5800 m, and to accomplish it in five or six months. In 21 days, there was drilled a well 2870 m deep with an inclination angle of 45% within the Proletarian field. All this allows us to reach the planned production volume of 1.8 billion cubic meters of gas, but this year we plan to increase the volume of gas production up to 2 billion cubic meters of gas," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine. He said that last year Burisma launched a well of 5,620 meters deep. Its daily production rate was 280,000 cubic meters of gas and 25,000 cubic meters of gas condensate. "We built an additional gas pipeline between Kharkiv and Shebelynka, which cost us UAH 18 million, and conveyed it to "Transgaz" system for free. This made it possible not only to facilitate the work of Kharkov ring, but to operate the Ukrainian gas transport system more efficiently. With this ring all the gas companies (including state-owned ones) operating in Kharkiv region can increase the output without violating the regulations. This is a net investment in the government project for the more efficient gas production. Today there are no similar investments, where private companies would invest in the state system of gas transmission. Burisma also launched a gas pipeline over 30 km long in Kharkiv oblast, which connects gas transport providers' nets to our company fields. This will increase production and ensure transmission of 4 million cubic meters of gas per day," he said. The project cost amounted to more than UAH 150 million. It is noteworthy, that it was built and put into operation within three months. Easements were signed with more than 200 landowners. So, in order to accelerate the construction, Burisma announced a tender among private companies for the construction of a10-kilometer stretch. "We actively upgrade our rig fleets. This year we purchased a new drilling rig SK – 3000 with the load capacity of 750 tons. This is the most powerful rig, not only in Ukraine but also in the CIS. We also bought a new U.S. fleet for hydrofracturing, which consists of 15 pumps with a total capacity of 35 thousand hp. We can say that this national project will give an opportunity to participate in tenders for services of various companies, including the largest state-owned gas producer "Ukrgasdobycha." We have already signed a cooperation agreement with leading American company ProPetro, which performed more than 10 thousand successful hydrofracturings and is ready to cooperate if we win the tender. We also purchased seismic equipment, which lets us cover large areas and provides high quality seismic information. In this field we cooperate with Dawson Company", Taras Burdeinyi has said. Burdeinyi noted that in 2015 the group's companies paid some UAH 3 billion of taxes to the Ukrainian budget. "Even though, the Holding's activities differ in these two countries (in Italy, the holding company develops geothermal field), we convey our competences to international markets. First of all, our service and our drilling technologies. Burisma owns the largest rig fleet in Ukraine, including heavy drilling rigs that enable to reach the depth of up to10 thousand meters. In Kazakhstan, we signed an agreement with the National Oil and Gas Company "KazMunayGas" and its subsidiaries. For example, we signed a contract with "KMG Drilling & Services" to perform a drilling of a directional appraisal well at the Urikhtau field. In Italy, it's a new aspect, specializing in the electricity production from renewable and environmentally friendly geothermal sources in Europe. An international group Gesto Investimento e Gestão (G.I.G.) became our partner in the Italian project, and now we cooperate on three projects. Companies in Mexico and the United Arab Emirates would also like to see us, as their investors and partners. Currently we estimate the prospects of a series of projects; we will be able to tell you more about it later," he said.