Azarov Stresses Safeguards for Shale Development

 Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has stressed the environmental safeguards that must accompany any development of shale fuels in his country.

The "highest level" of protection for the environment must be ensured, Azarov said in a conversation on Facebook, verified on the government website.

He wrote that the United States was able to become self-sufficent in gas, and cancel imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar. A similar situation applied in Canada.

“We have studied their experience, studied environmental aspects of extraction process either. I must admit, of course, certain problems and certain threats exist, as they exist in practically every industrial production. But the task of both technologists and industrialists is to achieve that risks were minimal,” Azarov wrote.

He added if companies have managed to achieve that in the US and Canada, there should not be any doubts that the same level of environmental protection will be secured in Ukraine.

In other news, agencies reported that Ukraine's plans to start importing natural gas from Europe through Hungary and Slovakia will take shape in the first quarter of this year. 

Ukraine's energy minister,  Eduard Stavitsky, was quoted as saying some technical issues with the importation still had to be resolved.  "There are some technical issues with Slovakia which we are dealing with, and virtually all issues with Hungary have already been settled. The negotiations on arranging gas supplies to Ukraine from Europe are nearing completion now,” he was reported to have said.