Ukraine's state-owned Naftogaz, through its subsidiary Ukrgasvydobuvannya (UGV), has found what it claims to be a 'promising' new natural gas deposit in the west of the country, following the drilling of new well.

The new discovery has been made in the Carpathians, in a field that the company considered exhausted.

The exploratory well was drilled using the Ivan Bohun drilling rig to a depth of 1,600m with an aim to further explore the exhausted deposit.

Following tests, the exploratory well reported a gas flow rate of more than 200,000m³ per day. This marks the western Ukraine’s highest UGV indicator for deposits in the past 20 years, Naftogaz said.

UGV acting general director Oleg Tolmachev said: “The western region of Ukraine has great potential for new hydrocarbon deposits, which is confirmed by the experience of neighbouring countries.

“We are now intensifying our activities in this region, in particular with regard to the introduction of new technologies and the attraction of investments.”

UGV exploration and development director Maksym Vityk said a number of productive horizons have been identified based on the results of geophysical studies and this expands the prospects for drilling new wells.

Vityk added: “The results of the test well will now make it possible to estimate the reserves of the new deposit.”

Naftogaz CEO Oleksiy Chernyshov said that the gas discovery marks another step in its strategy to increase gas production domestically, reported Reuters.

Chernyshov said in a Facebook post: "In recent days, a well was put into operation on what was believed to be an exhausted deposit in the Carpathians.

"There were no happy coincidences. The well is the result of coordinated work, the use of 3D seismic reconnaissance and modern drilling technologies."