Petroleum Geology of Ukraine

Historic and current perspective – Was gas the reason for the Russian invasion?

Ukraine has a long and often troubled history of prosperity and violence, being a Borderland between world powers throughout human history.
There are three major HC basins in the country. The most important and prolific is the Paleozoic rift basin, the Dniepr-Donets Basin onshore in the East of the country, with total discovered volumes around 1.6 Bbo and 60 Tcf of gas. The Carpatian Basin is a Cenozoic foredeep basin in the West of the country and the Black Sea Basin is a highly underexplored classical fold belt – deep water basin.
Yet-to-Find studies revealed very major gas resources in the SE of the Dniepr-Donets Basin, mainly in unconventional traps, and in the Black Sea Basin. Exploration success would result in a major change in the European gas availability and potentially take over the European market. Exploration had just started in full force when Russia illegally occupied those areas in 2014, escalating into a full invasion and the current ridiculous war against an independent and proud country.
Ukraine also has a huge gas pipeline network, which is currently partly used to transport the majority of Russian gas to Central and Western Europe, and gas storage facilities of about 1 Tcf.
We will discuss Ukraine’s history, the petroleum systems, both geological and political, the current situation in the country and business opportunities post war.
Part of the slides were provided to me by Naftogaz Ukrainyi, the national oil company.