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Enhancement projects with major national and international oil and gas companies in Romania and Hungary in particular, where Expert Petroleum invested more than $100mn in some projects and increased the production up to 150% above the baseline. Today, we are pleased to begin a similar partnership with Naftogaz in order to make their depleted gas field more sustainable by increasing production and reserves and implementing safe and green operations. We hope this agreement will lead the way to many more partnerships like this one. Expert Petroleum Ukraine LLC headed by Director Victoria Sergeyeva, will lead our operations in Ukraine,” David Martinon, co-founder and CEO of Expert Petroleum said in the statement.
Expert Petroleum will concentrate on fields belonging to Ukrgasvydobuvannya and try to increase their production and reserves. The company said it plans new reservoir models that will be used to drill new wells, carry out operations on intensification of existing wells using the latest technologies in directional drilling, logging, water shut off management and perforations, and modernize the surface facilities to increase operational efficiencies, reduce energy intensity and environmental footprint.
Expert Petroleum and Ukrgasvydobuvannya have signed a 15 years contract with the possibility of extension for another 10 years. Expert Petroleum has registered a Ukraine sub-entity to be the counter party.
Naftogaz Group will approve the development plans, annual work program and budget, proposed by the operator company on these fields. The operator will receive a fixed fee for support of the baseline production, which will be adjusted for inflation and performance related incremental gains in production. The full ownership of the extracted production, geological licenses and existing assets will remain with Ukrgasvydobuvannya.
KPMG was the financial advisor to Naftogaz in this transaction; PwC advised Naftogaz on tax and accounting matters.
Expert Petroleum’s legal counsel in this transaction was CMS Cameron McKenna office in Kyiv.
Expert Petroleum is a French-owned company that is part of the GMS holding group, a large investment group with assets all around the world.
Expert Petroleum main business is to maximize production from mature oil & gas fields by investing in modern technology and techniques. The company takes execution and incremental production risks under the terms of long term Production Enhancement Contracts (PEC). At present, the company manages production at 25 depleted fields, operates 1,200 wells, and produces 8.5 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day. It has about 1000 employees.
2.4 Politics - misc
Ukrainian MPs passed the so-called anti-Kolomoisky banking law in the second reading despite concentrated efforts by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky to sabotage it on April 30. A total of 255 deputies voted in favour of this decision on April 30, well ahead of the 226 needed to pass the law. The law is a prerequisite for Ukraine to obtain a new $5.5bn International Monetary Fund (IMF) Extended Fund Facility (EFF) that it desperately needs this year to avoid defaulting on its international debt obligations.
9 UKRAINE Country Report May 2020 www.intellinews.com
