Ukraine's Naftogaz boosts gas output 7% on year in first seven months

The upstream companies of the Naftogaz Group -- UkrGazVydobuvannya and UkrNafta -- produced 8.6 Bcm of gas in the first seven months of 2024, a 7% increase year on year, the Ukrainian state-owned company said Aug. 6.

In a statement, Naftogaz CEO Oleksiy Chernyshov said gas production figures exceeded the operational plan by 2%.

"The work does not stop -- not only in the central and western regions, but also in the eastern ones despite all the military challenges," Chernyshov said.

He said the Naftogaz companies had increased gas production through the launch of new "highly productive" wells and the implementation of new technology.

Total Ukrainian gas production -- including from private companies -- rose to 18.7 Bcm in 2023, up from 18.5 Bcm in 2022, with UkrGazVydobuvannya leading efforts to raise domestic output.

'Great efforts'

In the first half of 2024, total Ukrainian output -- including production from private companies -- was up 2.5% year on year, industry group AGPU said Aug. 2, without giving production volumes.

In a statement, AGPU executive director Artem Petrenko said all producers were making "great efforts" to raise output, with UkrGazVydobuvannya and UkrNafta demonstrating good growth dynamics.

Petrenko said the increase in gas production had been made possible thanks to the drilling of new wells, with almost 300 drilled since the beginning of the war.

"The country needs gas and the demand for it will grow taking into account the losses of the power system and the course towards distributed generation," Petrenko said.

"Therefore, attracting new investments, increasing the pace of drilling, developing new areas, and comprehensive cooperation between the state and business are the key factors that will influence positive results in the sector."

Ukraine has long held the ambition to produce all the gas it consumes to eliminate imports from Europe, with officials saying imports were not needed in the past winter.

Halting the need for imports to meet its own demand is a key priority for Ukraine, not least given the relatively high price of imported gas.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the benchmark Dutch TTF month-ahead price on Aug. 5 at Eur35.69/MWh.