Ukraine opens arms to upstream investors

The country has large untapped gas reserves and wants foreign partners to help unlock them

Ukraine offered a further tranche of onshore blocks on 29 January, as it seeks to revive the fortunes of an upstream gas industry that has struggled to realise its potential since the end of the Soviet era. The government hopes to lure fresh interest through revamped sector legislation and greater business transparency, but international investors are likely to proceed with caution, at least until after presidential elections at the end of March. Since December, 17 onshore blocks have been made available via so-called "e-auctions" and 12 blocks via PSAs. The PSAs are open to foreign and domestic investors, while the auctioned blocks are open only to domestic companies. In total, 42 onshore b