Ukrgazvydobuvannya is in a legal dispute with Weatherford over damaged leased equipment

Ukrgazvydobuvannya, represented by its branch UGV-Service, continues a legal dispute with Weatherford Ukraine LLC (a subsidiary of the international Weatherford) over compensation for damages related to allegedly defective leased equipment. This is reported in ExPro Gas&Oil Weekly.

Details

UGV’s claim seeks to recover UAH 538.7 thousand, including UAH 510.4 thousand in damages and UAH 28.3 thousand in penalties. According to the company, in January 2024, Weatherford leased a hydraulic fishing jar, which broke down during operations at well No. 355 of the Yablunivske field. UGV argues that the equipment had hidden defects that led to its failure during use.

Weatherford disputes the claims and insists that the jar was in working condition, and that the damage resulted from violations of technological requirements and excessive loading by UGV-Service. To support its position, the company initiated the appointment of a technical examination.

Throughout 2025, the court repeatedly returned to the issue of conducting the examination. In June, the court appointed an engineering and technical examination at the Bokarius Institute of Forensic Examinations and suspended the proceedings. In August, the proceedings were resumed, and in September the court decided to change the examination to a comprehensive one – engineering and technical with metallurgical analysis.

In November, the court granted the experts’ request for additional materials and allowed the examination to be conducted over a period exceeding 90 days. The parties must provide technical documentation, the equipment’s operational history, and arrange for an on-site inspection. After this, the proceedings were again suspended until the expert review is completed.

Weatherford Ukraine

Weatherford Ukraine remains a major service provider for Ukrgazvydobuvannya and its branches. Since the beginning of the year, Naftogaz Group companies have signed contracts with Weatherford worth a total of UAH 844 million, placing the company among the top 10 suppliers.

At the same time, last year, UGV rejected Weatherford’s bid in a procurement procedure for a geophysical electromagnetic tool set intended to assess casing integrity due to Weatherford’s links with Russia.

Weatherford is one of the largest oilfield services companies, providing innovative solutions, technologies, and services to the oil and gas sector. The company operates in more than 80 countries and has a network of 620 locations, including manufacturing, service, R&D, engineering, and training facilities. Weatherford Ukraine LLC is the representative of Weatherford International in Ukraine.

Over the past eight years, Weatherford Ukraine has had three directors: in 2016, Dmytro Solnyshkin, Natalia Rudevich became the head (she later joined Oleksandr Romanyuk at Ukrgazvydobuvannya, and after a personnel purge at the state-owned company, she joined the international association of engineers SPE in Ukraine), and since 2020, Oleksandr Tertychenko has been managing the company.

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Detailed analytics of the natural gas market in Ukraine, including production, imports, exports, UGS reserves, trading results, natural gas prices, key news, etc., are published in specialized publications ExPro Daily Gas, ExPro Gas&Oil Weekly, and ExPro Gas&Oil Monthly.

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