Ukraine's cabinet on Wednesday approved a 50-year production-sharing agreement (PSA) for gas exploration with Royal Dutch Shell, the government press service said, according to Xinhua.
The deal, which will be signed in the nearest future, covers the Yuzovska gas field in eastern Ukraine with estimated reserves of over 4 trillion cubic meters of gas, according to the press service.
Ukraine picked Shell to explore the Yuzovska gas field in May, 2012.
The project, whose total cost has been estimated by the government at 3.95 billion U.S. dollars, may help Ukraine reduce its heavy dependence on expensive gas imports from Russia.
According to a contract signed in 2009, Ukraine agreed to buy 52 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Russia. The price reached over 430 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of 2013.
