Lviv regional council started to analyze product sharing agreement

On 14 of August the first organizational meeting of the working group on economic, legal and environmental analysis of the product sharing agreement for the extraction of hydrocarbons at the territory of Lviv region has taken place in Lviv regional council. The working group according to the decision of the Head of Lviv regional council, consists of  deputies of Lviv regional council, representatives of civil organizations and scientists.

Львівська обласна рада. Засідання робочої групи

Lviv regional council. Meeting of the working group. Photo from oblrada.lviv.ua

The Head of the working group, which is the head of environmental, natural resources and recreation commission of Lviv regional council Mr. Oleksiy Balytckyi, informed that members of the working group have received for acquaintance the draft of the agreement and all materials on this question provided to the commission.  Mr. Oleksiy Balytckyi noted that the working group should carefully examine all paragraphs of the proposed agreement, provide its comments and elaborate the position on this issue. He proposed to divide the analysis of the agreement by three main parts: economic, environmental and legal.

Lviv Regional Council has also received a letter on environmental risks of shale gas extraction from National Academy of Science of Ukraine . Lviv State Administration has also provided critical comments on the draft of the agreement. The members of the working group decided to invite a representative of  Lviv State Administration to join the discusssion.

Some members of the group expressed the views on the working process. Deputies emphasized that they will not decide on the agreement without taking into account the views of local communities. Civil society will be invited to join the discussion and information on the working group discussion progress will be published on the web-site of Lviv regional council. Also, it was decided to invite the representatives of local authorities from the districts, where Oleska are is located, to the next meeting of the working group.

The scientists presented at the meeting informed about the risks, which Lviv region could face in the future due to shale gas extraction. Among others, according to some estimates, Lviv region could lost 80% of water reserves due to shale gas extraction. According to Lviv regional council deputy Ms. Oksana Yurynets, water, but not gas is the most important asset of Lviv region. The price of water will be increasing in the coming years, and there are a lot of water springs at the territory, where shale gas extraction is planned.

Next meeting of the working group will take place on 3 of September.

As reported earlier, Ivano-Frankivsk regional council will discuss the approval of hydrocarbons products sharing agreement on its next meeting on 20 of August. The interview with the Head Ivano-Frankivsk regional council on the matter is available under the following link.

Read also about water consumption volumes during shale gas extraction.