To understand the importance of increasing domestic natural gas production, it is worth to mention only one number.

In the past 10 years, Ukraine has spent $88 billion on imported gas, mostly from Russia. This number is almost equal to Ukraine's yearly GDP.

Thereby, the nation's economy was paying a tithe as a payment for the imported gas, which was a significant factor of pressure on hryvnia and one of the reasons for its devaluation.

Sadly, everyone remembered of the domestic natural gas production in the country only after the risk to the nation's energy and national security reached the critical point.

The Government has declared ambitious plans of increasing natural gas production by 35% with a goal of achieving country's self-sufficiency by 2020. Gas producing companies have consolidated in an attempt to achieve the goal.

The propositions of the participants of the market were taken into consideration in the Government's document – the Concept for Development of Ukraine's Gas Production Industry for the Next Four Years. It has been reviewed and approved by the Prime-minister, Volodymyr Groysman, in Kharkiv oblast' in September of 2016. Precisely this document is some sort of a roadsign to achiving the strategic goal.

The companies have analyzed the industry's needs in great detail, and have come up with the plans of projects of development provided that the favourable investment and regulatory environment is created. The companies have prepared a list of the necessary technological measures and calculated the amounts of necessary capital investments.

The key condition for increasing production is attraction of investments and a wide use of modern technologies. To achieve the goal of 27 bcm of production, capital investments should be doubled to $1.3 billion invested annually in the industry.

Almost half of production will be produced on new wells drilled on green- and brownfields, as well as via enhancement measures.

Link to the full text of the column: