Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has issued instructions for the drafting of a project to prospect for gas off the country`s Black Sea coast, RIA Novosti reported.
"I would like us to start implementing a large-scale project, including the entire shelf, and including all the components of prospecting and production, and I ask you to launch this as a separate state program," the government press service quoted Tymoshenko as saying.
She also said the project should involve the attraction of "long-term loans from world financial institutions."
Tymoshenko said this would be "a serious large-scale project." However, she failed to specify what deposits exactly she meant.
The Kerch area`s reserves are estimated at 10.8 billion cu m of natural gas. Production at this section would allow Ukraine to increase its annual gas production by 4 billion cu m, and oil by 3 million tons.
Ukraine presently produces about 20 billion cu m of gas and 4 million tons of oil a year, or about 20% of its annual consumption.
RIA Novosti