Ukraine's State Service of Geology and Subsoil sells Ostrovska oil-and-gas block to GBL-1
Ukraine's State Service of Geology and Subsoil sold the Ostrovska block, located in Yavoriv and Sambir districts of Lviv region, to GBL-1 LLC associated with Zinoviy Kozytsky and Karel Komárek for UAH 555.01 million, which is 5.5 times higher than the starting price of UAH 105.3 million.
This is shown by the results of the state agency's auction for a special permit to use subsoil, held on the Prozorro.Sales platform, which has just concluded.
Two other companies participated in the auction alongside the winner: Poltava Petroleum Company, which bid UAH 555 million, and JSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia, which offered UAH 550 million.
The Ostrovska block (natural gas, oil, condensate) is located 17 km northeast of the city of Sambir. The special permit is granted for 20 years, during which geological study of hydrocarbon-bearing subsoil and subsequent oil and gas production must take place.
The lot's initial price was UAH 41.13 million (including VAT).
As reported, at the IX oil and gas auction on December 11, the State Service put up four special permits for sale. An auction for a special permit to develop the Novodykanska block in the Myrhorod and Poltava districts of Poltava region, with a starting price of UAH 369.5 million, was scheduled for 12:25.
An auction for a special permit to develop the Vneslavivsky oil and gas block in Myrhorod district, Poltava region, did not take place because only one company – Gaz-MDS LLC – participated.
Another auction, for the Ispansky block in Vyzhnytsia district of Chernivtsi region, with a starting price of UAH 0.69 million, was cancelled in October.
On December 3, the State Service sold a special permit to develop the Liubinetska oil-and-gas block (from a depth of 4,000 m), excluding the area intersecting the Dovholutska block, in Lviv region for UAH 110,000,011 (initial price UAH 48.31 million). The winner was Gaz-MDS LLC of the Nadra-Geoinvest group.
Its bid exceeded by UAH 11 the offer of another participant, Systemoilengineering LLC. The third participant, Oil and Gas Sense LLC, offered UAH 55.5 million.
The Nadra.Info portal, citing YouControl, indicates that Gaz-MDS LLC is owned by Tetiana and Oleksandr Huzenko, whose Nadra-Geoinvest group ranked among the top three private gas producers in Ukraine in 2023.
Oil and Gas Sense LLC is part of Rinat Akhmetov's SCM corporate group, which controls the company through DTEK Oil & Gas Development B.V., the Netherlands.
Systemoilengineering LLC is owned by sisters Karina and Anna Zlochevska, daughters of former Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mykola Zlochevsky, through Diloretio Holdings Ltd, Cyprus. The minute difference between the top two offers is linked to the specifics of Prozorro's three-round auctions, where the advantage of the "last voice" belongs to the company that submitted the highest price proposal before the auction opening.