The first offshore discovery was Golytsinkoye in 1975, on the Ukrainian Odessa Shelf, and became the first producing gas field in the Black Sea.

Exploration drilling in the Ukrainian sector of the Black Sea has focused on the shallow water areas, and a number of discoveries have been made, including six gas fields (Golitsinskoye, Schmidta, Arkhangelskoye, Odesskoye, Bezymyannoye and Krymskoye), two gas condensate fields (Shtormovoye, Yuzhno-Golitsynskoye) and one oil field (Subbotina). 

The Golitsinskoye and Shtormovoye fields are currently under development, and the Arkhangelskoye, Bezymyannoye, Krymskoye and Schmidta discoveries are under appraisal.