The agreement on the establishment of a mineral recovery fund, which was signed in May 2025 between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the United States of America, drew attention to the assessment of Ukraine's mineral resource base.
Thus, in the Eastern region, the initial total hydrocarbon resources, as of 2019, were recorded at 5,319.0 million tons of conventional fuel, including natural gas (free and soluble) - 4,545.8 billion cubic meters, oil and condensate - 773.2 million tons.
As of 2019, about 59 percent of the initial total resources by total volume of all hydrocarbons had been used.
The unexplored share of the initial total resources in quantitative terms amounted to 2,193.0 million tons of fuel equivalent.
Thus, there remains significant potential for increasing oil and gas production in the Eastern region.
The Western region also has significant prospects for increasing hydrocarbon reserves and their production.
The initial total resources of the Western region, as of 2019, are recorded at 1,440 million tons of equivalent fuel, including natural gas - 970 billion cubic meters, oil and condensate - 470 million tons. The degree of realization of the initial total hydrocarbon resources is 42 percent. The unexplored (residual) part is about 850 million tons of equivalent fuel.
In the Southern region (Black Sea region, Crimea and the continental shelf of Ukraine), only 4 percent of the initial total resources have been realized, which in total amounts to 2,100 million tons of hydrocarbons, of which gas - 1,900 billion cubic meters, oil and condensate - 200 million tons.
This region's potential for reserve growth is maximum.
Due to the temporary occupation of a significant part of the territory of the Southern region, the forecast resources of the economic zone of Ukraine are reduced by up to 270 million tons of conventional fuel, including in the Black Sea - by 160 million tons, in the Sea of Azov - by 110 million tons.
According to estimates by the Hydrocarbon Resources Management System (PRMS), as of 2018, commercially recoverable oil and gas reserves were approximately 500 million tons of oil equivalent (22 years of consumption), and resources with an uncertain probability of commercialization were 166 million tons of oil equivalent.
More than 70 percent of prospective resources, which are a priority for exploration and exploratory drilling, are concentrated at depths of more than 3 kilometers, a significant part of these resources also lie in ultra-deep horizons - more than 5 kilometers.
In addition, more than 92 percent of the fields have reserves of less than 5 billion cubic meters and 5 million tons and are considered small and very small.
Large and medium-sized deposits account for half of Ukraine's reserves and production, but they are in the final stages of development and are more than 70 percent depleted.
Therefore, about half of the available hydrocarbon resources in the oil and gas subsoil remain unexplored.
At the same time, most of them are small, deep-seated or low-profitable objects, the development of which is problematic and will not provide the necessary increase in explored reserves and its excess over the volume of oil and gas production.
A significant increase in hydrocarbon production in the future is impossible without a significant increase in the resource base and improvement of its quality through exploration and preparation of new facilities, which can be carried out at the expense of the state budget, funds from business entities of various forms of ownership, and from other sources not prohibited by law.
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