REUTERS
The company is to start developing the gas field after the respective resolution has been approved.
Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has provided the country's gas giant, NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, with a 30-years permit for the pilot industrial development of natural gas resources on the Black Sea shelf without the need for a tender.
The decision was made at a government meeting on November 25, according to an UNIAN correspondent.
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"The draft resolution provides for the possibility of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine to obtain, without an auction, a permit for the use of gas-bearing subsoil on the continental shelf within the boundaries of the actual maritime economic zone of Ukraine, which will increase its own gas production, create additional jobs, and fill both local and state budgets," Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Roman Abramovskyy said while presenting the draft resolution.
According to him, the state-owned company can start developing the field immediately after the document has been approved and the appropriate procedure has been passed.
"Our goal is for the state-owned company to start this process, and during industrial development, investors may be engaged, and perhaps the company will be able to extract additional gas on its own and maintain energy independence," Abramovskyy added.
Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko did not support this resolution, since it provides for a decrease in the amount of the fee for issuing special permits, which will reduce budget revenue.