Royal Dutch Shell and Eni have wound down unconventional exploration in Ukraine and China as the search for shale gas outside North America falls victim to upstream cost-cutting amid the oil price slump. Shell said on Mar. 12 it will halt exploration at a tight gas project in eastern Ukraine. It and state-owned partner Ukrgasvydobuvannya, Ukraine's largest natural gas producer, said that data from drilling at two sites in the Kharkov region showed the project was "economically unviable" and the sides would scrap a shale agreement signed in 2011. This means the Anglo-Dutch supermajor has stopped all upstream work in Ukraine: Its offshore Skifska field in the Black Sea fell into legal limbo after Russia annexed Crimea a year ago.
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