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Ukraine hopes to sign agreement with ExxonMobil by end of September

A production sharing agreement with a consortium led by ExxonMobil for the development of the Skifska oil and gas field on the Black Sea shelf could be signed by the end of September 2013.

Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavytsky said this at a briefing at the Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday, a Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"As for the signing [of the agreement] with ExxonMobil, the government has reached the finish line. We expect the agreement to be signed at the end of September. It has been submitted to the government. The government decided on representatives and issued a resolution on an interagency commission, which I head. We will today meet and decide on the date of signing [the agreement] with ExxonMobil," he said.

As reported, on August 15, 2012, a consortium comprised of ExxonMobil, Shell, Petrom (based in Romania, a subsidiary of Austria's OMV) and NJSC Nadra Ukrainy was declared the winner of the PSA tender for the development of the Skifska oil and gas field on the Black Sea shelf.

The Skifska field covers an area of 16,698 square kilometers and borders Serpent Island. The total investment in this field is estimated at $10-12 billion. Projected annual natural gas production could total 3-4 billion cubic meters, and budget revenues could reach UAH 80-90 billion.