Ukraine Postpones Agreement with ExxonMobil to February

Ukraine postponed for the second time a gas production-sharing agreement with a consortium led by ExxonMobil, Fuel and Energy Minister said on Monday. 

"We will sign it (the agreement) in February," Eduard Stavytsky added as reported by Reuters. 

Central government confirmed its interest to cooperate with Western companies, eyeing opportunities in two major fields. It is trying to develop the Skifska field on the Black Sea shelf in cooperation with ExxonMobil and Dutch Royal Shell, while betting also on the Olesska field to develop with Chevron. But Ukraine’s government is losing credibility. Similar announcements already arrived in August 2013.

As written last week, Chevron will begin shale gas production in Ukraine’s western areas only by the end of 2014. The US-based company signed a production sharing agreement in November 2013.