Shell to end shale activities in Ukraine

Ukraine

LONDON, June 19, 2015 – Shell is looking to pull out of a shale gas exploration project in eastern Ukraine due to low world oil and gas prices, the Ukrainian Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Igor Shevchenko, said on Thursday.

“Shell has recently announced its intention to withdraw from the agreement on shale gas exploration. The company did this for their own economic reasons, as the prices for gas and oil fall,” Shevchenko said, according to Ukrinform.

Media outlets reported this week that Shell was looking to suspend its shale gas activities in eastern Ukraine due to fears for the safety of its personnel and inability to conduct its activities.

The Financial Times reported last week that the company was looking to leave its Ukrainian project due to the ongoing conflict between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian forces, which has left its project in eastern Ukraine on hold since July 2014.

Shell’s decision to leave the country comes nearly six months after US exploration and production company Chevron informed the Ukrainian government it would be pulling out of a shale gas exploration project in western Ukraine.

Ukraine is said to have Europe’s third-largest shale gas reserves estimated at 1.2 tcm (42 tcf), according to the US Energy Information Administration.