RFERL: Kyiv Turns To 'Unconventional' Natural Gas To Wean Itself From Gazprom

Kyiv thinks it just might be sitting on the answer to the problem of reducing Ukraine's energy dependence on Russia: an estimated 1.2 trillion cubic meters of shale-gas reserves, the third-largest such deposits in Europe. 

On January 24, Ukraine is expected to sign a production-sharing agreement (PSA) with oil major Royal Dutch Shell worth an estimated $10 billion to develop the Yuzivska shale-gas field in eastern Ukraine using the controversial new technology of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Shell has not confirmed the signing, which could take place on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Kyiv selected Chevron as a partner for a similar project in western Ukraine in May 2012.

The Ukrainian cabinet signed off on the agreement on January 23.

Danila Bochkarev, a research fellow with the EastWest Institute in Brussels, says that shale gas and other unconventional forms of natural gas could play a big role in Ukraine's future.

"Unconventional gas is not only shale. Also coal-bed methane and tight gas [extracted from sandstone] are quite important," Bochkarev says. "For instance, we can see that Ukraine's gas reserves are between 1.2 tcm (trillion cubic meters) and 2.8 tcm, depending on the estimates -- and we are talking here about [all] unconventional-gas reserves.

"And taking into account that Ukraine imports between half and two-thirds of its gas needs," he says, "this can be quite an important source of natural gas and energy for the country."  MORE