Ukraine plots fracking revolution
Ukraine is working to unleash natural gas fracking with the goal of becoming a major exporter and revolutionising Europe's energy market.
In plans critical to Volodymyr Zelensky's hopes of a post-war economic recovery, ministers in Kyiv are scrambling to lure private investment and gain access to new drilling technology to access the country's vast untapped shale gas resources.
According to sources close to Kyiv, officials are racing to attract 'foreign technology and highly experienced subsoil users', with a focus on unconventional shale resources in western Ukraine.
The hunt for cash - as revealed by the independent news platform Energy Flux - is being conducted in parallel to the rare earth minerals deal struck between Donald Trump and President Zelensky in April, which will allow the US to exploit Ukraine's natural resources, including aluminium, graphite, oil and natural gas.
The priority is to rapidly revitalise Ukraine's ailing gas sector after a gruelling winter saw roughly 40pc of production capacity taken out by a fierce Russian campaign of drone and missile strikes.
The attacks forced Ukraine to draw heavily on its gas stocks, which ended winter almost entirely depleted.
But Ukraine's Ministry of Energy believes it is possible to refill the country's cavernous underground storage facilities and even produce a surplus for export 'within 18 months', according to a senior government source.
Ukraine already has some experience with advanced drilling technology for old wells and has since carried out experimental trials that 'confirm its potential' for fracking, they said.
However, to unlock Ukraine's shale reserves, the country needs to attract more investment and newer kit, primarily from America.
'Development and production can be quickly developed using available gas infrastructure with connections to the EU gas market that make it very attractive,' the source added.
'Ukraine has enough deposits of traditional gas to cover its own consumption and to become a net exporter, and shale gas production has quite a profound effect on its development.'
Such a turnaround would help transform the fortunes of Europe's energy markets, which remain on edge following the loss of Russian pipeline gas exports via Ukraine at the start of 2025.
Refilling Ukraine's depleted gas storage – the largest in Europe, at 32bn cubic metres – is one of the main factors tightening energy markets in Central and Eastern Europe ahead of next winter.
Ukraine's gas stocks are today just 7pc full compared to the EU average of 50pc.
Efforts to pipe natural gas from Southern and Eastern Europe into Ukraine have also been thwarted by red tape and a lack of market cohesion.
However, if Ukraine could unleash its own shale revolution and create a surplus for export, the need to keep pumping European gas into Ukraine would effectively disappear overnight.
It would also help reduce Europe's reliance on costly liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from overseas.
Gas-starved Europe leaned heavily on LNG after Gazprom, the Kremlin-backed energy giant, halted exports to the EU following Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Ukrainian shale gas exports, if scaled up quickly, would erase a large chunk of European energy demand currently being met by LNG, potentially sparking a sharp drop in energy prices around the world.
However, Kyiv's proposed fracking revolution hinges largely on the country's ability to secure overseas investment.
Officials from Ukraine's Ministry of Energy are tapping Western diplomatic ties to find private capital funds with a high tolerance for risk to bankroll drilling and bring in technology partners.
A senior government team attended the Baku Energy Forum in Azerbaijan last week in part to promote Ukraine's potential as a shale hub.
Speaking at the event, one high-ranking statesman said the Lviv-Lublin geological area that straddles the Ukraine-Poland border is 'superior on the Ukrainian side' thanks to higher porosity and lower clay content, making it 'better for fracking'.
The most promising prospect is the Oleska (Olesskaya) shale block, which contains an estimated 0.8 to 1.5 trillion cubic metres of shale gas resources – enough to meet Ukraine's domestic needs for decades.
How much of this resource is economically recoverable is an open question. Chevron walked away from a 50pc interest in the Oleska project in 2014 before drilling could begin.
Chevron's stated reason for leaving was not because of political instability or lack of resources, but rather Kyiv's failure to enact specific tax reforms necessary to enable shale gas foreign investment.
Now, the Zelensky administration is moving to streamline operations and reduce bureaucratic hurdles that previously deterred foreign investors.
Ownership of the Olesskaya production sharing agreement (PSA) was transferred in April 2025 from government holding company Nadra Ukraine to Ukraine's largest oil and gas producer, Ukrnafta.
The move signalled a strategic shift in the country's approach to fracking, particularly in the Oleska block.
Ukrnafta is a state-owned enterprise following the nationalisation of strategic industries and declaration of martial law in 2022, which remains in force to this day.
Attracting significant private capital into Ukrainian shale exploration would normally be impossible under these circumstances.
However, the source said there are laws in place to ensure they can be overwritten.
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This Kansas town doesn't hate immigrants enough. So the Trump administration plots vengeance.
Lawrence and Douglas County appeared on a Department of Homeland Security list of 'sanctuary jurisdictions.' (Clay Wirestone/Kansas Reflector) The Trump administration has put my town — the place my family and I call home — on its hit list for a thought crime. What horrible thing have the people of Lawrence and wider Douglas County done to deserve this fate? Apparently, we don't sufficiently detest immigrants. Put questions of legal status aside. As we all know, it doesn't matter to the hate-bloated buffoons in Washington, D.C., what papers a person has or doesn't have. They will ship you off to a foreign gulag if you're the wrong color or in the wrong place. Because Lawrence had the unmitigated audacity to care about people who look different, it has been threatened with the full wrath of the federal government. It might be shocking, if so little was shocking these days. The Department of Homeland Security posted a list of 500-plus 'sanctuary jurisdictions' on its website May 29, highlighting cities and counties that supposedly run afoul of its anti-immigrant agenda. Three days later, officials took down the page after an outcry from local law enforcement. Thanks to the Internet Archive, you can still browse the list and read the government's inflammatory rhetoric: 'DHS demands that these jurisdictions immediately review and revise their policies to align with Federal immigration laws and renew their obligation to protect American citizens, not dangerous illegal aliens.' There's a lot to unpack there — immigrants commit fewer crimes than those born in the United States, for one thing — but let's press on. The point is that my town and county landed on the list. Let's try to figure out why. Back in 2020, the city passed an ordinance protecting undocumented folks. 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They have attorneys on staff or retainer to make sure they don't break myriad legal restrictions. Lawrence followed the law in enacting its original ordinance, and when the law changed, officials followed along. But few want to step out and say such things publicly, given that federal officials have tremendous resources behind them. They could crush any city or county if they wished, through legal bills alone. Thankfully, as mentioned above, sheriffs across the nation pushed back. 'This list was created without any input, criteria of compliance, or a mechanism for how to object to the designation,' said National Sheriffs' Association president Sheriff Kieran Donahue. 'Sheriffs nationwide have no way to know what they must do or not do to avoid this arbitrary label. This decision by DHS could create a vacuum of trust that may take years to overcome.' Douglas County Sheriff Jay Armbrister was similarly outspoken in comments to the Lawrence Journal-World: 'We feel like the goalposts have been moved on us, and this is now merely a subjective process where one person gets to decide our status on this list based on their opinion.' Thanks to the U.S. Constitution and its First Amendment, we are not required to love, like or even respect our government. We are not required to voice support of its goals. We are not required to say anything that we don't want to say about immigration, immigrants or ICE. Republicans understood that full well when Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama were in office. Both faced torrents of criticism on this very subject. Those presidents took the abuse. It was, and is, part of the job. Now President Donald Trump and his anti-immigration minions have to deal with the fact that a different segment of the public vehemently disagrees with their immigration policies. That's OK. That's protected expression. Within the bounds of law, we are also free to define our towns, cities and counties however we want. Accusing local governments of thought crimes desecrates and defames our Constitution. Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
