Ukraine is a big player when it comes to gas: the International Energy Agency estimates that there are 5.4 trillion cubic meters of natural gas deep under the territory where the war with Russia is currently raging. According to estimates, Ukraine’s gas reserves would be sufficient to cover its own needs for the next 180 years.
“That is possibly also one of the reasons for the fight for these areas,” states Eastern Europe expert Andreas Umland in the ntv podcast “Wirtschaft Welt
In practice, however, investors are needed to be able to develop the gas deposits. That was difficult even before the war: a decade ago, the energy giant Shell wanted to invest billions in building the appropriate infrastructure in eastern Ukraine. But the pro-Russian separatists, who began fighting for the union with Russia in 2014, caused the group to abandon its plans.
In the podcast “Economy World
For investors, Umland, a Ukraine expert, fears that the situation will remain difficult even if a peace agreement is reached. He therefore believes that special insurance policies that cover political risks are a good idea to encourage foreign investors to step into Ukraine.
Possible potential can also lie in the hydrogen business. After all, Ukraine already has pipelines and huge natural gas storage facilities that could be harnessed for hydrogen. Blue hydrogen, for example, is produced from natural gas, but with savings in CO2 emissions, and is therefore traded as a bridging technology to new energies. That could also be an advantage for us in Germany.
