Vitaliy Radchenko, senior associate and coordinator of the Energy and Projects practice at Kyiv office of CMS Cameron McKenna led the American Chamber of Commerce Knowledge Seminar: “Entering Upstream Oil and Gas Market in Ukraine” on 30 September 2011. The event was prompted by recent discoveries of a vast unconventional gas potential in some European countries, including Ukraine, which already attracted significant interest of major oil and gas companies and countries that are seeking a way to lessen their dependence on imported natural gas.

In his presentation Vitaliy focused on the most important legal issues and provided some tips on what local and international oil and gas companies should be aware of when entering Ukrainian upstream market. He touched upon a general overview of the Ukrainian markets for oil and gas; regulatory authorities and policy; major players; market drivers; obstacles and trends; role of the state in the upstream oil and gas sector. Vitaliy also spoke about various ways and options for starting an oil and gas project in Ukraine, obtaining access to a special permit for oil and gas and subsequently – hydrocarbon exploration and production rights in Ukraine. Few of the other intriguing topics of the presentation were: rules of the domestic gas market; export of oil and gas from Ukraine; land, permitting and tax-related issues.

The seminar attended representatives of major international oil and gas companies and other adjacent industries and sectors, such as: ARTA Investments, Chevron Ukraine LLC, International Finance Corporation, The Risk Advisory Group plc, Embassies of the French Republic, the United States of America,

About CMS Cameron McKenna in Kyiv: CMS Cameron McKenna opened its doors in Kyiv in September 2007 and was the first UK-headquartered law firm to open in Ukraine. The office comprises of 32 lawyers, including four partners, and represents major international and Ukrainian companies working in various sectors. We are consistently highly ranked by the major international directories such as Chambers Global, IFLR, Legal 500, PLC Which Lawyer? and others. Also recently Yurydychna Practyka awarded us (for the third year in a row) Best International Law Firm at their annual Legal Awards 2011 Ceremony.

Notes to Editors:

CMS provides a deep local understanding of legal, tax and business issues and delivers client-focused services through a joint strategy executed locally across 29 jurisdictions with 58 offices in Western and Central Europe and beyond.

The CMS nine member firms are: CMS Adonnino Ascoli & Cavasola Scamoni (Italy); CMS Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo (Spain); CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre (France); CMS Cameron McKenna LLP (UK); CMS DeBacker (Belgium); CMS Derks Star Busmann (Netherlands); CMS von Erlach Henrici Ltd. (Switzerland); CMS Hasche Sigle (Germany); and CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz (Austria).

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