State Service of Geology and Subsoil sold permits for ₴1.6 billion in 2021

In 2021, the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine issued a record high number of new special subsoil use permits — 377, which is 2.5 times more than in the previous years. Approximately one third of the special permits were issued for the development and mining of minerals needed for the construction industry.

This was reported by Roman Opimakh, the Head of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil, during a press conference where he presented the Service’s annual report for 2021.

As a result of the activities of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil in 2021, about ₴1.6 billion in fees for the issuance of special permits and the provision of geological information was paid to the state budget. In addition, 217 e-auctions were held during this period to sell special permits — almost every second permit was issued as a result of e-auctions (160) and ₴923 million was transferred to the state budget.

6 special permits for hydrocarbon development and mining on the area of 50 thousand square kilometers were issued last year.  The Service has also prepared more than 50 sites with hydrocarbon reserves for investors.

According to Roman Opimakh, the Service now practices more thorough monitoring of the subsoil use. Last year, the subsoil use audit was launched, which resulted in the withdrawal of 315 special permits, under which activities were carried out with violations or were not carried out at all (‘dormant’ licenses).

Last year, the State Service of Geology and Subsoil also focused its efforts on expanding data provision in electronic form. Currently, 13 databases for subsoil users are available on the geological portal.

Last year, rental payments of subsoil users totaled ₴51.5 billion.

According to Roman Opimakh, this year the State Service of Geology and Subsoil will expand the user account functions, populate the electronic catalog of geoinformation, and update the registers of oil & gas and artesian wells.

The Service is also preparing new special permits for sale at e-auctions, including for strategic minerals.

As reported earlier, last autumn the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine published the list of mineral, mostly metal, deposits of strategic importance for the economy and defense of the state.