Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said that Ukraine will be able to fully provide itself with energy resources in 15 years.

He wrote this on his page on Facebook on Friday, while communicating with users.

"We have measured gas reserves of about two trillion cubic meters of gas on the shelf. There are also gas reserves in shale deposits. It's clear from the figures I provided that our own gas reserves will last many years. It's only important to ensure their operation," Azarov said.

He added that this requires a lot of costs. "International experience shows that it's necessary to spend about USD 1 billion in order to increase gas production by one billion cubic meters. That's why, I set a realistic term for ensuring the provision of Ukraine with its own gas," he wrote.

As for coal companies, Azarov said: "Ukraine has very large coal reserves. Unfortunately, mining and geological conditions for coal production in our country are rather complicated. Therefore, new technical and technological developments are needed. But in the next few years we will be able to fully provide ourselves with the necessary amount of coal, except for a certain amount of coking coal that we have to import from abroad."

Ukrinform