Page 12 - FSU OGM Week 11 2021

FSUOGM PROJECTS & COMPANIES FSUOGM

Naftogaz brings Israeli partner on

board for Black Sea exploration

UKRAINE UKRAINE’S Naftogaz has reached out to to have such partners as Naphtha for Black Sea
another international partner to take its Black exploration and development, which is going
The announcement Sea exploration plans forward. to be the most capital-intensive project in our
comes after Naftogaz In a statement on March 15, the company’s portfolio.”
clinched a similar deal upstream arm Ukrgasvydobuvannya (UGV) Naphtha offers financial capabilities and
with OMV Petrom last said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) experience, UGV said.
month. had been signed with Naphtha Israel Petroleum “Naphtha, through its subsidiaries, has
Corp. on joint activities offshore Ukraine. The experience in similar projects and can share
Tel Aviv-listed oil and gas producer has a stake in its knowledge to achieve positive results in
the Chevron-led Tamar field off Israel as well as Ukraine,” Naphtha CEO Eran Lendner added.
additional petroleum operations in the US. “We view the Ukrainian natural gas market
The announcement comes after Naftogaz as potentially attractive in the long term, and
last month clinched a similar deal with OMV believe that it may be the right place strategically
Petrom, the Romanian arm of Austria’s OMV. to allocate our investments.”
OMV Petrom is a seasoned Black Sea operator, Ukraine is looking to establish itself as a
having just signed a production-sharing agree- net exporter of gas, by attracting more foreign
ment (PSA) to explore a block off Georgia’s coast. investment and developing its more challenging
“Relevant international experience and for- unconventional and offshore resources. Nafto-
eign investment in Ukrainian upstream will gaz, through UGV, is set to play a major role in
facilitate the development of strategic oil and gas this drive. The company started producing from
assets, which the government granted to Naf- tight gas reservoirs in the country’s east in Jan-
togaz last year,” the Ukrainian firm’s COO Otto uary, through a project previously led by Royal
Waterlander commented. “It is essential for us Dutch Shell. ™

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