FT: Ukraine close to shale gas deal

Ukraine’s government is weeks away from signing a shale gas production-sharing agreement with Chevron, of the US, and bringing in Italy’s Eni and France’s EDF as partners for a Black Sea hydrocarbon exploration project.

Government and business industry sources said the landmark agreements would be signed next month, as Kiev steps up efforts to find alternatives to costly imports from Russia’s Gazprom.  

Officials said the two new energy deals stood to attract billions of dollars of investment, building upon a subsoil production sharing agreement signed in January with Royal Dutch Shell, which pledged to invest up to $10bn to explore Ukraine’s unconventional gas potential, including shale deposits. MORE