According to the declared by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine goal of increasing domestic natural gas production to at least 27 bcm by 2020, the members of the Energy Committee of the European Business Association consider it appropriate to implement a 12% royalty rate on subsoil use for natural gas production (excluding joint venture agreements).
The aforementioned rate should apply to wells, drilling of which started after January 1, 2017. The Association's experts also point out that such regime should be adopted for both state- and private-owned companies.
The representatives of business also proposed to consider implementation of a 29% royalty rate on oil and gas condensate, extracted from fields completely or partly above 5,000 meters, and 14% – for those below 5,000 meters.
The European Business Association expressed its hope that in the long-run such changes will be beneficial to both oil and gas industry in terms of attracted foreign investments (via improved economics of the investments projects), and the economy of Ukraine as a whole.