Ukraine's Ukrhazvydobuvannya state-owned gas mining company, a subsidiary of the state run Naftohaz oil and gas company, has finished drilling the 3.7 mile deep exploration well Number 202 at the Berezivske natural gas field in the Kharkiv Region.
The test boring resulted in an industrial gas flow producing 80,000 cubic meters of gas a day. "An isolated bed that had not been developed earlier was discovered in this well. In such a way, new deposits of natural gas have been discovered at Berezovske field," Kiev's UNIAN Informatsiine Agentstvo reported.
The Ukrainian government has made it a high priority to attempt to develop its indigenous natural gas resources as quickly as possible in order to lessen its dependence on imports of Russian natural gas from state owned Gazprom, as the pricing issues have strained relations between Russia and Ukraine for years. Discussions are currently underway to revise both the cost of Gazprom natural gas to Ukraine and the transit fees that Ukraine charges Gazprom to use its pipeline network for exports.
In answer to a journalist's question about the state of negotiations Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller replied, "Yes, indeed, talks with our Ukrainian colleagues are very active and very positive. But there still remain quite a lot of questions and they are complex. It's obvious that no final agreement will be reached in the next few days. I think that the first results of the discussions will appear in November."
By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com
Charles is a writer for Oilprice.com More