HOUSTON. April 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine is looking for an international operator for a project to produce gas in the country, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said at the IHS CERAWeek conference in Houston.
He said the country has 1 trillion cubic meters of undeveloped gas reserves. “This gas could be sold to Europeans,” the minister said.
With the implementation of energy efficiency projects in Russia and Ukraine, Russia will supply more gas to Europe in three to five years, which will have an impact on prices, he said.
“The government of Ukraine has decided to find an international operator in order to leverage this important asset,” Demchyshyn said, adding that an international consortium is an option.
He also said that Ukraine’s gas transport network is currently underutilized, so it would make more sense to involve the existing capacity to ship gas to Europe than to build new pipelines.
“We have 38 individual routes. We’ve already talked about the need to transport gas not only from Russia, but also from the north, from Norway. It’s doable for the Ukrainian system,” Demchyshyn said.
“We can redistribute this gas and ship it on to Romania, Turkey and potentially to Greece,” Demchyshyn said.
He said that Ukraine currently buys more than 50% of gas in Europe, enabling it to lower the price to $240 per 1,000 cubic meters.
