Black Sea New Focus for Development, Ukraine Says

 Black Sea development will go ahead apace, Ukraine has reiterated.

The Minister of  Coal and Energy, Yuri Boyko, said active development of gas fields in the Black Sea is under way.

Mr Boyko said improved technology and equipment would make Ukraine the top producer in the region.  "We will produce more gas than all of them put together - 3 billion cubic meters," the minister said in a statement Monday.

Boyko also noted that gas production will be increased due to development work on land, particularly on reserves of unconventional gas.

Development of social infrastructure in communities abutting the gas fields was an essential prerequisite for companies involved, he said. 

"Companies that have come to produce gas in certain regions will perform appropriate social program. This is an indispensable condition,"Boiko said.

Naftogaz Ukrainy, the national energy provider, is in charge of the project. Last week a spokesman said Singapore's Keppel FELS had been appointed as supplier of two new offshore platforms.