Operating agreement on shale gas production between Ukraine and the U.S. oil company Chevron can be signed as early as on March 2014. Thus, Chevron will be able to start the development of Olessky field in Lvov and Ivano-Frankovsk regions. This was stated by Eduard Stavitsky, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine, at Saturday briefing. At the same time, he noted that Chevron representatives in Ukraine coordinate their actions with the Ministry, the Information-Analytical Bulletin of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine informs.
For the record, in November 2013, Ukraine signed a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with Chevron. According to the agreement, the U.S. Company intends to invest about 10 billion USD in production of hydrocarbons at western regions of Ukraine; however, that agreement did not let the company directly proceed with development of the field.
According to industrial experts, through cooperation with American investor, Ukraine has all chances to repeat the successful U.S. experience. Thus, by development of local shale gas deposits, the U.S. Government managed to reduce gas prices on domestic market from 460 USD per 1,000 m3 in 2007 to 110-120 USD per 1,000 m3 in 2013.
In its report in June 2013, U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated the technically mined shale gas of Ukraine as 3.6 trillion m3 (1.75% of the world reserves). And total reserves as 5.6 trillion m3. Thus, according to experts, capacity of local gas-bearing formations can reach 8-10 billion m3 of gas annually. Another important fact is that, due to implementation of the project, 10,000 to 15,000 new jobs will be created in the country.
