Ukraine on July 6 made a serious move towards cutting its energy dependence on Russia by formally inviting potential investors to prepare studies on pumping more than $1.5 billion into the country’s first LNG (liquefied natural gas) plant, Roman Olearchyk wrote in the Financial Times.
According to the report, Ukraine has also “decided that it needs western capital and technology to develop its potentially large shale gas reserves.”
“Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and TNK-BP are among companies said to be eyeing exploration and production licenses,” according to the report.
Citing U.S. Geological Survey studies, the report claims that Ukraine has at least 1.5-2.5 trillion cubic meters of shale gas underground. They, along with offshore prospects on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, could significantly diversify Ukraine’s supplies, cutting into the sales export sales of Russia’s Gazprom. Importing 40bn-50 billion cubic meters of gas in recent years, Ukraine is currently Gazprom’s largest customer.
Referring to the multi-billion-dollar LNG project and the potential of shale schemes, Vlad Kaskiv told the Financial Times that “these projects could help Europe at large diversify energy supplies and get energy at more competitive prices.”
