A Committee Hearing under the ruling of the Deputy Head of Energy Committee, Olga Belkova, was held today. The topic of the hearing was Production of 20 bcm of natural gas in 2020 – how UkrGasVydobuvannya can do it. Among the present were: vice-prime-minister of Ukraine, Volodymyr Kistion, commercial director of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, Yuriy Vitrenko, Chairman of the Board of UkrGasVydobuvannya, Oleg Prokhorenko, executive director of the Association of Gas Producers of Ukraine, Roman Opimakh, members of Parliament, market experts.

From Yuriy Vitrenko's speech: "In 2009-2013 Ukraine has paid $54 billion for the imported gas, which allowed Russia to purchase 281 drilling rigs for the development of their own natural gas production. At the same time, Ukraine has not purchased a single rig. Currently, Ukraine's gas production industry is expecting the Government's approval of the Concept for Development, which outlines the main priorities of investments and industry development. By increasing the gas production, we will achieve the goal of decreasing the internal gas price by equalizing it to the export parity".

From Oleg Prokhorenko's speech: "In the last year, the company has saved 3 billion hryvnia on equipment purchases and via structural optimization of the company.The financial state has been stabilized, despite the efforts to force the company into debts before the Russian banks. Therefore, the plan of the company by 2020 is to drill 657 wells, purchase 30 new drilling rigs and update of 32 of the ones owned".

From Roman Opimakh's speech: "We consider the Government's plan to increase natural gas production to 27 bcm by 2020 to be plausible. In joint efforts with the state-owned UkrGasVydobuvannya, the private companies are expecting the approval of the Concept for Development of the Industry, which outlines the directions of the industry development. Today, the main increments of natural gas production are drilling of new wells and implementation of new technologies. The industry is consolidated in its position of implementing a single stimulating fiscal regime for the whole industry. Implementing a 12% royalty on new wells starting from 2017 is the main factor of realizing the development plans by 2020 in Ukraine".