Shale gas. Ukraine. Information on deposits for the conclusion of production sharing agreements

Shale gas (hosted by shale and mudstone) is a combustible natural gas contained in low-porosity and low – permeability gas-bearing shale formations.

In reservoir conditions, it is practically stationary and can be extracted through artificially formed permeable zones and reservoirs in the near-well space, created using hydraulic fracturing technology or other technologies for decompression of gas-bearing shale strata.

The gas-bearing rocks of shale strata are sedimentary rocks with a predominance of clay component (up to 50 percent), shale (layered) texture, enriched with dispersed organic matter (DOM) from 1 to 25 percent, which, depending on the degree of catagenetic transformations, can generate and accumulating hydrocarbon gases.

Targeted theoretical research on the possibilities of extracting natural gas from shale strata in Ukraine began a little more than ten years ago, but there is no practical use of its extraction.

In the Dnieper-Donetsk Basin, the Devonian and Carboniferous black shale strata, which lie in the peripheral parts of the basin at depths of 2,000-4,000 meters, are considered highly promising.

Among the priority objects for exploration are the Olesk subsoil area and the Silurian mudstones of Volyn-Podillia in the Western region, the Rudenkivske deposit in the Dnieper-Donetsk depression, and the Kalmius-Toretsk depression in the northwestern part of the Donetsk trough.

According to a preliminary estimate, recoverable shale gas resources in the Dnieper-Donetsk Basin reach 2.2 trillion cubic meters, in the Western region - up to 1.5 trillion cubic meters.