Enwell Energy (AIM: ENW) reported no production from its three Ukrainian gas licences in the third quarter of 2026, or since, because all three remain suspended. The gas producer said so in an operations update released at 7am today, before the market opens.
The idle licences are MEX-GOL, SV and VAS. The suspensions trace to Presidential Decree 698/2024, dated the 8th of October 2024 and announced the 11th of October 2024, which sanctioned the trustees of the Cypriot trusts that hold a major indirect shareholding in Enwell.
Enwell’s subsidiaries had registered those trustees as ultimate beneficial owners, based on the trustees’ own notifications. The State Geologic and Subsoil Survey (SGSS) treats them as ultimate beneficial owners, and issued suspension orders dated the 15th of November 2024 that run for 10 years from the 8th of October 2024.
Enwell won interim court rulings lifting the suspensions, but SGSS appealed. The rulings were overturned on the 22nd of January 2025 for MEX-GOL and SV and on the 27th of February 2025 for VAS, the orders were reinstated and field operations stopped immediately.
The company has also brought arbitration against Ukraine, issued on the 27th of August 2025 under the UK-Ukraine investment protection treaty and registered by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). It seeks monetary damages, reinstatement of the three licences for their remaining durations, and costs.
A tribunal order of the 26th of June 2026 on provisional measures obliges Ukraine and the group to give four days’ written notice of any new proceedings or material change that might affect the group’s rights over group companies or the integrity of the arbitration.
The second route is the SC exploration licence. Temporary gathering, separation and compression equipment is installed at the SC-4 well site, and gas is compressed there and trucked to existing facilities at MEX-GOL and SV for treatment and sale. Planning continues for the SC-5 exploration well and new gas processing facilities.
Chief executive Oleksiy Zayets called the “lack of progress towards a resolution of the regulatory situation” “disappointing”, while saying the compression work “should enable the re-commencement of some production”. The update gives no timing or volumes.
Cash stood at about US$86.9m at the 30th of September, of which US$73.9m was held in hryvnia and US$13.0m in dollars, pounds and euros. Enwell said it will keep pursuing legal proceedings with external advisers.
