Ukrainian President: Energy Independence - Our Strategic Goal

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• Publié par: worldwide-news-ukraine
• Nombre de lectures: 118
• Langue: English

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Ukrainian President: Energy Independence - Our Strategic Goal

PR Newswire KYIV, Ukraine, August 28, 2012

KYIV, Ukraine,August 28, 2012/PRNewswire/ -- st During the 21year ofUkraine'sindependence the country has made a number of steps aimed at increasing its energy independence. Pursuing this strategy is one of the country's priorities for the years to come. This was stated by the President of Ukraine Viktor st Yanukovych in his speech dedicated toUkraine's21National Day. Following its energy independence strategy,Ukrainehas already held oil and shale gas tenders, opened its new gas fields to foreign investors and invested in the development of alternative energy resources. Ukraineis estimated to possess the fourth-largest shale gas reserves inEurope, as earlier reportedThe Financial Times.Abundance of shale gas together with vast deposits of hydrocarbons attracted major international energy companies. Thus, earlier in August a group of four companies, led by America's ExxonMobil, won the right to develop oil and gas reserves at the Ukrainian deep marine shelf field Scythian (16,698 square kilometers). Together with Exxon, the Dutch- British Royal Dutch Shell, Romanian OMV Petrom, and Ukrainian state company Nadra will unlock the underwater deposits. InMay 2012, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron Corp obtained the right to develop Ukrainian shale gas fields Yuzivske and Oleske, respectively. The two fields are expected to provideUkrainewith up to ten percent of domestically consumed natural gas by 2020. As to development of alternative energy resources, in the last 30 months Ukrainebuilt 20 solar power stations with the total capacity of 270 MW. In 2011 the country launched the largest inEuropeand CIS solar power park Perovo in Crimea, southernUkraine, with the capacity over 105 MW. Notably,Ukraineis expected to increase its overall solar energy production up to 600 MW in 2012, predicts the international research company Macquarie Research based on the data from the European Photovoltaic Industry Association. In addition, inJuly 2012Ukraine's parliament approved the bill, which aims to simplify access of households to the mechanism of 'green' tariffs, providing new impetus to the solar energy development inUkraine. Ukraine'sefforts to become self-sufficient have resulted in the decreased amount of imported natural gas by 48.77 percent down to 12.8 billion cubic meters in January -May 2012, compared to the respective period of 2011.