Shell ends talks with Ukraine on Black Sea gas

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell said on Wednesday it has ended talks with Ukraine and US group ExxonMobil on extracting natural gas in the Black Sea off the coast of crisis-hit Crimea.

In September, then president Viktor Yanukovych said Ukraine had reached a production-sharing agreement with a consortium including Shell, ExxonMobil and state-owned Nadra Ukrainy to tap gas from the Skifski site in the Black Sea.

Prior to the popular uprising that toppled Yanukovych last month, Ukraine had been seeking to diversify its reliance on Russia for energy.

Shell said in a statement that it terminated negotiations on the Skifski project in January.

„Shell expected to sign an agreement in 2012 or 2013, but this was impossible,“ the company statement said. “So the group decided to devote its effort and capital to other projects.”

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