USBK-1 to drill a directional well at Strelkove gas field for Chornomornaftogaz

JSC Chornomornaftogaz ordered a drilling of a new deviated well at the Strelkove gas field (GR), the drilling contractor will be the Ukrainian Service drilling company-1 (USDC-1).

This was reported by Svitlana Nezhnova, CEO of Chernomornaftogaz, in her presentation at the 11th Ukrainian Energy Forum in Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 26, 2020.

As stated on the Prozorro e-procurement portal, USDC-1 won the tender announced by JSC Chornomornaftogaz to provide a turn-key drilling of exploratory and production Well No. 87 worth UAH 65 million (including 20% VAT).

The bids for the tender were submitted by 4 companies: Navigator Komplet LLC, PE Ukrainian Service Drilling Company-1 (USDC-1), Spetsmechservice, and Region LLC, but only 2 of them, Navigator LLC Komplet and Ukrainian Service Drilling Company-1 (USDC-1) after the bid qualification and were admitted to the auction, Navigator LLC Komplekt and Ukrainian Service Drilling Company-1 (USDC-1).

The tender was outcompeted by Ukrainian Service Drilling Company-1 (USDC-1) with their bid proposal lower by only UAH 2800.

As reported earlier, the tender was announced on December 17, 2019. The service completion is scheduled for December 31, 2020. According to the tender documentation, along with drilling services, the contractor is supposed to develop project documenttaion including geological design and cost estimates for the well.

According to the preliminary design and cost estimates exploratory and production Well No. 87 prepared by LLC "GF LTD" LLC, the directional profile of the wellbore with kick-off points at 546-500m, and 550-516m, total vertical depth of 550m and total depth of 870m.

The intentions of drilling of the said well were for the first time announced at the international conference Odesa Offshore Conference 2019 by the Deputy General Director of the company Petro Gorobets.

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PE "Ukrainian Service Drilling Company-1" (leader: Victor Maznev, founders: Yuri Kapustyan, Svetlana Keba, Victor Maznev) is a Poltava-based company providing a wide range of services in the field of oil and gas well drilling and workovers, is the winner of 41 tenders held by Ukrgasvydobuvannya and Chornomornaftogaz on Prozorro e-procurement portal with a total value of UAH 946 million.

In 2013, Chornomornaftogaz produced 2.4 bcm of natural gas. Following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, the self-proclaimed government declared the continental shelf of the peninsula as well as the property of JSC Chornomornaftogaz to be the property of Crimea, and declared the creation of Chornomorneftegaz enterprise, which was reorganized into a state unitary enterprise or Russia in early 2018.

In February 2020, Naftogaz of Ukraine submitted to the Hague Arbitration Tribunal an updated estimate of the $ 8 billion in losses the company incurred as a result of annexation of Crimea by Russia and the seizure of a number of Chornomornaftogaz assets - drilling rigs, gas transportation system, fleet and facilities. The consideration of application is expected to begin in March, with a final decision on the case in Ukraine in the first half of 2020.

Over the past two years, three laws have been passed in Ukraine aimed at supporting operations by Chornomornaftogaz, whose payables amounted to about UAH 12 billion at the beginning of 2014, and within subsequent 5 years creditors received positive court decisions for recovery of UAH 560 million of debts by Chornomornaftogaz