The Black Sea shelf will be handed over to Naftogaz without tender

The Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Roman Abramovskyi, said that in the near future, a decision will be made to transfer the Black Sea shelf to the state-owned company Naftogaz of Ukraine without tender. He said this in an interview with "Focus".

"We are discussing the issue of transferring the Black Sea shelf and deep-sea part to Naftogaz for 30 years for exploration and development. I think there will be a decision on this in the near future. We understand that there are political and economic risks of working in the Black Sea. In addition, the price of gas is increasing, but it has not yet become attractive for investment to develop deposits at a considerable depth. Naftogaz will conduct a 3D seismic survey, after which it will attract investors. There are similar discussions regarding other oil and gas deposits, they need to be evaluated and, perhaps, production should begin," Abramovsky said.

Also in the interview, Minister Abramovsky shared his intentions regarding "dormant licenses" for the use of hydrocarbon subsoils. In particular, about the fact that changes to the Subsoil Codex are currently planned. According to this, if the subsoil user does not conduct research and industrial development on the site, then at a certain moment he is obliged to pay rent.