shale gas

Ukrainian army leaves American fracking equipment behind after retreating from Donbass

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Posted on Fort Russ

March 3, 2015
LifeNews
Translated by Kristina Rus

Here on the outskirts of the village of Shishkovo under the snow and rain rusts the expensive equipment: four residential trailers for employees, diesel substation and equipment for conducting seismic surveys. Judging by the labels this equipment was certified in the U.S., and now it is in full possession of the people of Donbass.

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Local residents recall that this was a temporary base of geologists from Ukrgazdobicha. The residents of the Shishkovo witnessed the beginning of the work.

– This equipment was brought at a time when in June the Ukrainian tanks came from Metallist. Started shelling the city. As we suppose, Kiev authorities planned a quick capture of South-East, Donbass in particular, for further extraction of shale gas, ” – explains a local resident Vladimir.

“They were from Western Ukraine. Geo-research. They were saying something about gas, said there is shale gas here. First there were two vehicles, then 10 -12. There was a lot.” – says a resident.

Earlier the field was divided into squares, here the expert gasman conducted seismic studies and measurements and were preparing to install a rig.

Local mechanics and welders were not hired, because many of the them spoke out against the extraction of shale gas. The residents of Shishkovo were not notified of the purpose of the camp. The camp was staffed mainly with residents of Western Ukraine, which is revealed by the documents left behind : “Ivano-Frankovsk, Cherkassy, Poltava region, Zhitomir region.”  The documents also mention both gas and oil research.

According to the paperwork for 2013 found onsite, similar bases were also located in villages Shevchenko, Raigorodka and Gerasimovka.

According to the shift schedule in this trailer lived 10 employees of a Kiev company Nadrogru, and looking at this map of the camp, habging inside the trailer, we are now in a trailer number 33, and looks like some equipment and trailers were taken away from this base.

As the local residents say, the research continued until the Ukrainian national guard had left. Along with tanks and howitzers the Ukrainian soldiers also took part of the seismic equipment, but in the rush they did not have the time to gather everything.

This abandoned base can be observed well from the Ukrainian side of the frontline. Just over this field, a mile from the abandoned base is the town of Schastye, which is under the complete control of the Ukrainian army. Even now, in the midst of a ceasefire it is not safe to be here. Locals say that during evening hours the Ukrainian Armed forces and volunteer battalions begin to fire at each other.

Kristina Rus:

  Now we know that US weapons intended for Ukraine are actually intended to defend US energy interests, and the weapons are simply needed to silence the annoying Russian locals, who dare to speak out against the destruction of local ecology, the profits from which no one even planned to share …

Video with English subtitles by Kazzura (resolution not as good)

 

http://fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/03/ukrainian-army-leaves-american-fracking.html

Chevron’s shale gas exit shreds Ukraine’s hope of energy independence

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From Bloomberg, December 17, 2014

Shale gas was supposed to be Ukraine’s ticket to greater energy independence from Russia. Chevron Corp. (CVX)’s decision to pull the plug has smashed those hopes.

The second-largest U.S. energy producer will pull out of an agreement for exploring the Oleska field in western Ukraine, a government official said this week. It was the final blow to the country’s dream of becoming a big shale-gas producer after Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) retreated earlier this year from a similar deal in eastern provinces riven by a bloody war with pro-Russian separatists.

While Chevron can walk away unscathed, for Ukraine it’s another blow to the prospects of reviving a chaotic economy that remains dependent on Russia, a country it claims to be in armed conflict with. Already weighed down by the war that’s killed more than 4,600 people and teetering on the verge of default, Ukraine was counting on foreign capital to develop its domestic gas resources.

“Foreign investment will start to flow only if there is a healthy, predictable investment environment based on the rule of law,” said Ulrich Benterbusch, managing director at German energy agency Dena. “This includes drastic measures to reduce the endemic corruption.”

Chevron grew frustrated with the Ukrainian government’s failure to modify tax rules under which foreign explorers have to operate in the country, said Allen Good, an energy industry analyst at Morningstar Inc. in Chicago.

The second-largest U.S. oil producer never even got an opportunity to drill any exploratory wells, which indicates the reason for pulling out was regulatory rather than any problems with the geology, Good said.

Chevron declined to comment beyond a statement that they’ve given the Ukrainian government their decision.

Mammoth Discoveries

The $10 billion value of the prospect Ukraine politicians had mooted was ’’an inflated, blue-sky’’ estimate that assumed mammoth discoveries, decades of drilling and no obstacles to bringing the fields into production, Good said.

Other western explorers including Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Eni SpA (ENI) saw their aspirations in Ukraine wither after the February collapse of the pro-Russian regime. Shortly after the ouster of then-president Viktor Yanukovych, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, appropriating potentially gas-rich offshore fields in the Black Sea.

Ukraine is grappling with the deepest recession since 2009, with the hryvnia plunging 48 percent against the dollar this year. The $17 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund is proving insufficient and President Petro Poroshenko has pleaded with the U.S. government to provide at least $10 billion more to stave off default.

Gas Exporter

The country is locked in a dispute over the price of gas with Russia, which used to supply more than half of Ukraine’s needs. Russian gas exporter OAO Gazprom (GAZP) halted deliveries to Ukraine from June to last month over a dispute on prices and unpaid bills, while also lowering supplies to neighbors such as Hungary and Slovakia to discourage them from sending the fuel back to Ukraine through reverse flows.

Ukraine has the potential to cut its gas consumption by half simply by improving its energy efficiency through measures such as better building insulation and modern infrastructure, Dena’s Benterbusch said. The country could reduce its import costs by up to $9 billion a year if it managed to get to German efficiency levels, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

However, that comes with a steep price tag: modernizing the country’s energy sector will cost “multiple billions” of euros, EBRD said.

Chevron Departure

Ukraine may have as much as 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas trapped in its shale rocks, Europe’s third-largest deposit after France and Norway, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimate.

Chevron’s departure again demonstrates the failure of repeating the U.S. shale boom in Europe, where investors have repeatedly clashed with bureaucratic obstacles, popular opposition to fracking, difficult geology and, in some cases, corruption. Even in Poland, once viewed as a very promising territory, red tape and difficult-to-exploit deposits discouraged investors, including Chevron.

“Ukraine and the rest of eastern Europe, despite the potential, haven’t come to fruition,” as shale gas suppliers, Good said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ladka Bauerova in Prague at lbauerova@bloomberg.net; Joe Carroll in Chicago at jcarroll8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net Dylan Griffiths

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-17/chevron-shale-exit-shreds-ukraine-s-hope-of-energy-independence.html

Reprinted under Fair Use Rules.