Yuzivska gas field

Ukrainian gas field

Yuzivska
Map of Yuzivska field within Ukraine
Country	Ukraine
Region	Donetsk Oblast Kharkiv Oblast
Offshore/onshore	onshore
Operator	Shell plc
Field history
Discovery	2010
Start of production	2017
Production
Current production of gas	27.4×10^⁶ m³/d 960×10^⁶ cu ft/d 10×10^⁹ m³/a (350×10^⁹ cu ft/a)
Recoverable gas	2×10^¹² m³ 70.766×10^¹² cu ft

The Yuzivska gas field (Ukrainian: Юзівське газове родовище) is an unconventional Ukrainian natural gas field that was discovered in 2010. It was expected to begin production in 2017, but development was halted because of the outbreak of the 2014 war in the Donbas region near the field, a sharp plunge in European natural gas prices (making the costly shale gas development less profitable),^[1]^[2] and opposition from local residents.^[3]

Background

Ukraine's largest natural gas fields are about 80-85% depleted although there are still large quantities of unexploited gas reserves stored in hard-to-reach areas or solid rock, including the Yuzivska gas field.^[3]

Since December 2020, the rights to the Yuzivska gas field has been held by the Nadra Yuzivska company, which is owned by Ukraine's state-owned Naftogaz.^[3]

Development

As of November 2014, Shell had drilled only two exploration wells and was unable to conduct full exploration of the Yuzivske field due to the situation in Donbas. The company was only able to start some work within Kharkiv region, but continues to work in the region. The initial stage of geological exploration involves obtaining seismic data and drilling up to 15 wells. It is about gas production from hard sandstones.^[4]

In July 2016, the Dutch company Yuzgaz B.V. won a tender to attract an investor to implement a PSA for hydrocarbon production within the Yuzivska area. In December 2018, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the transfer of 90% of Nadra Yuzivska's rights and obligations under the Yuzivska PSA to Yuzgaz with the project operator represented by Slovakian Nafta a.s.

Extraction

The Yuzivska block covers an area of 7,886 km².^[1] The total proven reserves of the Yuzivska gas field are around 70.8 trillion cubic feet (2000×10⁹m³) and production is slated to be around 960 million cubic feet/day (27.4×10⁶m³). Studies indicate that the field would be capable of delivering up to 10 bcm of natural gas annually, which is almost a third of Ukraine's annual natural gas consumption.^[3]

The reservoir that holds the gas has low permeability and low porosity (compared to other large natural gas fields in Ukraine) and therefore requires unconventional methods of extraction.^[3] The total exploration investment is expected to range between 250 and 300 million USD.^[5]^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b "Ukraine energy profile". International Energy Agency. 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
^ Olearchyk, Roman (2015-06-11). "Shell to withdraw from shale gas exploration in eastern Ukraine". Financial Times. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Yuzivka: Between fake news and truth about Ukraine's gas independence". ukrinform.net. 21 December 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
^ "У Shell заявили, що мають проблеми з розвідкою родовища на Донбасі". Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
^ "Ukraine sees 2017 for commercial shale gas output". Reuters. 2012. Retrieved 2014-08-11.
^ "Kyiv Turns To 'Unconventional' Natural Gas To Wean Itself From Gazprom". rferl.org. 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-31.