The Government together with the Parliament and the expert community spared no effort to maximize openness of energy resources for all market participants and to attract new players to this important field for our country. This was announced by Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman at the 10th anniversary Ukrainian Energy Forum being held these days in Kyiv.

"We have created opportunities, including in the field of gas production, that provide free access. These new opportunities encompass a new legislation as well as involvement of local communities in this process. We transferred a significant part of rent payments to regions. We have provided a five-year moratorium on changes in rental rates and reduced them for new drill holes," the Prime Minister stressed.

The Head of Government placed a special emphasis on openness and transparency of the work of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine. It should be noted that geological data are open for market participants.

"In March and April, auctions and contests will be opened for new areas. The State Service of Geology and Subsoil is working on  ensuring  transparency of each application in order for everyone to see how proposals are being considered and what decisions are made", the Head of Government said.

Background

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is considering the development of the energy sector of Ukraine in the context of the implementation of the Energy Strategy of Ukraine for the period up to 2035. The Strategy seeks to achieve full energy independence, to open the gas market in order to fully provide a resource for all categories of consumers as well as to attract new investors and extraction technologies.

Over the past three years Ukraine has completely refused from import of gas from Russia and significantly reduced import from other sources due to the introduction of efficient resource consumption technologies. Dependence on the supply of Russian nuclear fuel is reduced by 30% due to nuclear fuel supply from Westinghouse. Over the period from 2014 to 2018, more than 500 thousand Ukrainian families have received "warm" loans worth UAH 6 billion for insulation of houses.

Incentive taxation for drilling of new gas wells was introduced and deregulation of the licensing system was carried out. This year, the state plans to offer more than 40 sites with a total area of 20 thousand km2 at auctions and contests. Competitive procedures have already been approved for 12 projects.