Ukraine has plans in course of 10 years to increase domestic output of natural gas by 100% or 20 billion cubic metres to 40 billion cubic metres a year, First Vice Prime Minister Andrii Kliuev has announced at a news conference in Kharkiv on June 10.
In his words, the production volume will grow expense a number of deposits, including on sea shelf.
Kliuev says they will restore contact with Vanco Prykerchenska (British Virgin Islands).
"This was a raid attack by the state, they would have been started drilling long ago if not this," Kliuev said.
He marks, Ukraine has a bunch of sections on the shelf for development of which the government intends to attract mighty investors.
As to the minister, Ukraine's shale deposits are one of the richest, so recovery of shale gas is potentially productive procurement.
"We have held a series of negotiations and are now preparing areas for this," he said.
The United States began mining shale gas and in three years achieved its production of 40 billion cubic metres a year, Kliuev emphasised.
Prime cost of shale gas mined in the U.S. ranges from USD 120 to USD 150 per thousand cubic metres, which is lower that the cost of Russian gas, which makes USD 236 for Ukraine.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, in 2009 Ukraine extracted 21,181.8 million cubic metres of natural gas, a 0.8% increase over 2008.
The Cabinet of Ministers and Vanco International signed the product sharing agreement on the Prykerchenska section of the Black Sea shelf on October 19, 2007.
Vanco International delegated all its rights and commitments under the agreement to Vanco Prykerchenska (Virgin Islands).
This was the main reason for Cabinet of Ministers' canceling the agreement and Vanco Prykerchenska's launching an international lawsuit.
Vanco Prykerchenska is a 100%-owned subsidiary of Vanco Energy Company (United States).
Vanco Energy owns only 25% of Vanco Prykerchenska.
The remainder is owned by Donetsk-based Donbas Fuel and Energy Company (DTEK), Integrum Technologies Ltd (Austria), and Shadowlight Investments Ltd (owned by Russian businessman Yevgeny Novitsky) on parity terms.
