According to Ukraine’s official gazette Uryadovy Kuryer, bids were invited for two fields, which include Foroska and Skifska on the country’s Black Sea shelf, on or before 2 August 2012.
With this move, the Ukrainian government intends to go ahead with its long-term strategy to of moving away from reliance on energy imports from Russia.
Russia exports about two-thirds of Ukraine’s gas requirement at a price that has been rising steadily for the last few years and is expected reach about $415 per thousand cubic metres in 2012.
Ukraine earlier selected Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron Corp to explore and develop two potentially large shale gas fields, as part of its energy strategy.
Shell won the Yuzivska area, which is located in the eastern Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, while the other, Olesska, is in the western Lviv region.
