EuroGas and Total enter into Confidentiality Agreement on Western Ukrainian Shale Gas Properties
EuroGas, Inc. today announced that through its subsidiary, EuroGas Polska sp.z o.o., it has entered into a confidentiality agreement with Total E&P Activites Petrolieres (Total), a wholly owned subsidiary of Total S.A., one of the world's largest oil companies. The agreement was entered into in connection with the evaluation and possible acquisition by Total of certain rights held by EuroGas Polska's wholly-owned West Ukrainian subsidiary in an onshore region in Western Ukraine. Total has also been evaluating the Bieszczady concession in Poland, in which EuroGas owns a 24% interest.
The properties under evaluation by Total are situated on a coal bed methane (CBM) concession near the Ukrainian/Polish border on which EuroGas was the first foreign oil company to drill a CBM well in Ukraine in 1998. This area within the Ukrainian part of the Lublin trough is offsetting recently acquired shale gas concessions by ExxonMobil, Chevron, Marathon Oil and Polish Oil & Gas (PGNiG) within the Polish part of the Lublin trough on the Polish side of the Polish/Ukrainian border.
"Over the past 13 years we have done a considerable amount of geological and technical research and have compiled an extensive database of old wells drilled in Western Ukraine," said Wolfgang Rauball, Chairman and CEO, EuroGas. "Our research indicates that the thickness of the shale gas formations under EuroGas' area in the Western Ukrainian portion of the Lublin trough is substantially thicker than those found in the successful shale gas fields in the United States."
Mr. Rauball went on to state, "We are pleased that Total is interested in our unconventional gas assets in Ukraine in addition to its ongoing evaluation of our concession interest in the Bieszczady project with Poland's national oil & gas company PGNiG as operator. The Bieszczady concession was acquired by EuroGas in 1998 and farmed out to PGNiG in 2007 with EuroGas retaining a 24% working interest."
Source: Marketwatch