Cabinet Revokes Permit to Striking of Product Sharing Deal With Vanco International
Posted: May 28th, 2008 | Author: DylanRichards | Filed under: Politics, Society | Tags: Black Sea, Gas, Kerch, Kristoffersen, Oil, Oil and Gas, Osshore, Production Sharing Agreement, Psa, Stig, Stig Kristoffersen, Stig-arne, Stig-arne Kristoffersen, Ukraine, Vanco, Vanco International |The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has called off its Resolution No. 828 of October 3 approving the agreement with Vanco International on sharing products from the Kerch shelf in the Black Sea, Resolution No. 740 of May 21.
By the same resolution, the government, due to non-observance of laws during preparation and signing of the agreement, decided to put a stop to Ukraine’s participation in the deal.
In April 2006, Vanco International, a subsidiary company of Vanco Energy (US), won the tender invited by the Ukrainian Cabinet for the development of the Black Sea shelf oil-and-gas deposits.
The product sharing agreement was signed on October 19, 2007.
The Environmental Protection Ministry decided on April 25 to cancel Vanco Prykerchenska Ltd’s license to develop the shelf.
In response, Vanco Prykerchenska Ltd launched arbitration proceedings against the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine claiming it refused to negotiate.
On May 19, First Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov announced that the Cabinet of Ministers decided to withdraw from the product sharing agreement with Vanco International that had given the right to develop oil and gas deposits at the concession block in the Black Sea shelf to Vanco Prykerchenska.
The Cabinet of Ministers decided on May 21 to terminate the product-sharing agreement that was signed with Vanco International Ltd, which had given the right to develop oil and gas deposits to Vanco Prykerchenska Ltd (Virgin Islands), whose founders were not disclosed.
May 26, the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Ukraine said it is ready to start negotiations with Vanco Prykerchenska Ltd (Virgin Islands) about development of the Black Sea shelf.
"We are open to any civilized negotiations, including our working group", the press-service said without specifying whether the group had already entered into negotiations with the company.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection of Ukraine annulled Vanco Prykerchenska’s license for Kerch deposits development.
Later, Environmental Protection Minister Heorhii Filipchuk said that Ukraine did not withdraw from the agreement with Vanco International, but suspended it.
Hopefully this will lead to more independence for eastern Europe. If Russia isn’t the only country in the region with developed natural gas deposits, there will be more competition.