OREANDA-NEWS. September 02, 2011. The Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Yuriy Boyko is convinced that the main task of domestic power is provision of economy of Ukraine with one's own energy resources. He has declared it in interview to the newspaper "Uryadovy courier".

According to the Minister, today in Ukraine a number of the programs directed on reduction of dependence on import energy carriers are implemented.

In particular, Yuriy Boyko has underlined that Ukraine intends to reduce gas consumption in 2012 approximately by 10 billion cubic meters compared to current rates. At the same time, the increase its own gas production from 20 billion cubic to 27 billion cubic meters and reducing of volumes of purchase of the Russian gas to 12 billion cubic meters, in particular, at the expense of the program of an energy conservation and replacement of gas by coal are planned within 5 years.

“We have own program which one is directional on gas production accretion - we have already acquired one gantry a drill site, and have now pronounced about the tender for the second gantry - and we will begin real gas production and oil in the Black Sea”, - the Minister stressed.

Yuriy Boyko believes that the program to extraction of shaly gas is promising also.

“The program to extraction of shaly gas is perspective. In the near future a number of auctions will be conducted, which are interested U.S. companies, Dutch Shell, Italian Eni, i.e. demand is great”, - Yuriy Boyko noted.

He also stressed that Ukraine will implement projects to develop alternative energy.

 “We have applicable programs: wind-power engineering, small hydro-power engineering and other industries. We perhaps a little behind Europe but we will quickly catch up”, - Yuriy Boyko considers.

“A task of our energy sector – the provision of economy by one's own power resources in full”, - was summed up by the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine.