Category: Ukraine

Shale license for explorer JKX Oil and Gas extended in Ukraine until the end of 2019. (UPI/Gary C. Caskey) LONDON, Nov. 6 (UPI) — The Ukrainian government extended the terms for a shale exploration license by five years, JKX Oil and Gas announced Thursday. JKX, which has headquarters in London, said its exploration permit for the Zaplavskoye license was extended through December 2019. The reserve basin surrounds four other areas where the company is working to extract reserves locked in shale. Ukraine is one of the Eastern European countries rich in shale natural gas. JKX said its production in Ukraine for 2013 averaged 9,731 barrels of oil equivalent per day, an 18 percent increase from the previous year. By the government’s estimates , there may be enough natural gas in shale reserve areas to meet the country’s needs without imports. Ukraine, with the help of European negotiators, brokered an […]

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DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) – Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine staged swearing in ceremonies for their leaders on Tuesday after votes dismissed as a farce by Kiev, which says they violated terms of a peace plan to end a war that has killed more than 4,000 people. Warning of the threat of new offensive by Moscow-backed rebels, Ukraine’s leader said newly-formed army units would be sent to defend a string of eastern cities. NATO’s highest ranking officer, a U.S. general, said conditions were now in place to create a "frozen conflict", a term the West uses to describe rebel regions carved out of other ex-Soviet states that Moscow protects with its troops. The inauguration ceremonies in east Ukraine took place even as tens of thousands of people marched in Moscow for "Unity Day", a nationalist holiday celebrating a 17th century battle, revived under President Vladimir Putin to replace the Soviet-era […]

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Download Flash Player now You need to install Flash Player to play this content. President Petro Poroshenko: "The election farce of 2 November jeopardises the peace process" Continue reading the main story Ukraine crisis Chaos and courage Tense time The rebel vote Ones to watch Ukraine’s president is to chair a crisis meeting of security chiefs, after a rebel-held vote that he said jeopardised "the entire peace process". Petro Poroshenko proposed scrapping a law, agreed under the 5 September truce deal, which gives special status to the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk areas. Two pro-Russian leaders were declared the winners of Sunday’s polls. Under the terms of the truce, Ukraine was meant to hold elections in the two regions in December. The West says the rebel-held elections are illegal but Russia is backing them. More than 4,000 people have been killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine since April. Ukraine accuses […]

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Voters arrive at a polling station, guarded by pro-Russian rebels, in Donetsk on Sunday ©AFP Russia moved swiftly to recognise results of controversial elections in Ukraine’s breakaway eastern regions, defying pressure from the west urging Moscow not to undermine fragile peace efforts by giving credence to an “illegitimate” vote. “We respect the will of the people . . . elections in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions were . . . carried out in organised fashion with a high voter turnout,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday. More On this story Ukraine’s self-declared republics hold elections Gideon Rachman Europe’s bloody borders Zakharchenko stumps for votes in Donetsk In depth Crisis in Ukraine Drinks with Russian soldiers in Lugansk On this topic Russia and Ukraine reach gas deal Editorial Ukraine sets its face towards the west Election marks turning point for Ukraine Polls signal Ukraine’s shift to west IN Europe Tax casts shadow over Dublin’s tech […]

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DONETSK, Ukraine — The campaign billboards in this city suggested a tight race between Aleksandr Zakharchenko and Aleksandr Zakharchenko. As voters in rebel-held areas of Ukraine went to the polls on Sunday, in defiance of the central government, the European Union and the United States, the only visible campaign advertising in Donetsk was in support of the current separatist leader, Mr. Zakharchenko, who is, not surprisingly, expected to win. Rather than offering a range of plausible opposition candidates, the voting for members of Parliament and heads of state in Donetsk and the other breakaway region of eastern Ukraine, Luhansk, was significant for highlighting Ukraine’s loss of control over these territories, and Russia ’s strengthening influence. The elections will likely cement the status quo for Luhansk and Donetsk, which have been controlled in large part by pro-Russian separatists since the spring. Russia has said it will recognize the results, while […]

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European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso says common sense prevails in interim gas deal brokered between Russia and Ukraine. UPI/Anatoli Zhdanov Negotiators in Brussels landed a deal late Thursday following several rounds of failed talks aimed at resolving a so-called gas war brewing at least since June. "This is an important step for our shared energy security on the European continent," outgoing European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement. "There is now no reason for people in Europe to stay cold this winter." European countries get about 20 percent of their gas from Russia, though most of that runs through a Soviet-era pipeline network in Ukraine. Gas rows between Russia and Ukraine left European consumers without gas in 2006 and 2009. The Ukrainian government under the terms of the deal agrees to pay its $3.1 billion debt in installments. In return, Russian delivers gas under a […]

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AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert MOSCOW (AP) — Russia says gas supplies to Ukraine will resume after it pays off the first debt installment next week. Alexei Miller, the chief of Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom natural gas giant, made the statement Friday hours after Russia, Ukraine and the European Union thrashed out a $4.6 billion deal that will guarantee Russian gas supplies to Ukraine and further on to the EU. The deal eased fears that Europe will end up shivering this winter as occurred during a 2008 gas dispute when Ukraine siphoned gas intended for Europe and Russia turned off the taps in response. Moscow cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in June over unpaid debts, a move that followed the ouster of Ukraine’s Russia-friendly leader and the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea.

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©AFP Russia and Ukraine are on the verge of an EU-brokered deal to end a months-long dispute over gas deliveries that would secure supplies to the war-torn country through the upcoming winter. Officials said after all-night talks that broke up at 4am Thursday morning, three separate texts were sent back to Kiev and Moscow – including a new bilateral treaty between the two countries and a commercial agreement between Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and its Ukrainian counterpart Naftogaz – for a final review before signatures are affixed. More On this topic German exports to Russia tumble Fast FT Rouble touches new record low UK blocks €5bn Russian North Sea deal No ‘untouchables’ for Putin, says Pugachev Podcast Russia-Ukraine tensions Neil Buckley, East Europe editor, on the challenges facing Ukraine’s new pro-European parliament EU officials said they believed the deal was all but completed after the most complicated issue – […]

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By Vanessa Mock BRUSSELS–Ukraine and Russia are set to resume talks on Thursday to resolve their natural-gas dispute, after late-night negotiations yielded no breakthrough. Ukraine still needs to secure funding to pay upfront for Russian gas deliveries before a deal can be concluded, two people familiar with the situation said. Kiev still needs to raise enough money to pay $1.6 billion in advance for November and December deliveries, according to the terms of a deal agreed on Oct. 21. Talks broke up at around 4 a.m. local time without this issue being resolved, the people said. The talks under way in Brussels, the latest in a months-long series of high-level meetings, come amid fears of possible gas shortages in parts of Europe if the flow from Russia to Ukraine isn’t restored. "We have agreed to continue to work and continue the talks on October 30," Russian Energy Minister, Alexander […]

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Ukraine’s efforts to unblock deliveries of Russian gas as winter sets in were deadlocked on Thursday as Moscow’s negotiators were quoted demanding firmer commitments from the European Union to cover Kiev’s pre-payments for energy. EU-hosted talks were adjourned after running late into the night, Energy Minister Alexander Novak and the head of Russian gas firm Gazprom ( GAZP.MM ) told Russian news agencies. They would resume later in the day if Ukraine and the EU had a firm financing deal in place, Gazprom head Alexei Miller said. Ukrainian and EU officials were not available. A spokeswoman for Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger issued a statement cancelling a news briefing that had been tentatively set for 8:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) in the event of an agreement. There has already been agreement on the price Kiev will pay for gas over the winter, the amount to be supplied and […]

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