OREANDA-NEWS. June 19, 2012. Eni signed a Share Purchase Agreement with Ukrainian state-owned National Joint Stock Company Nak Nadra Ukrayny and Cadogan Petroleum Plc to acquire a 50,01% interest and operatorship of the Ukrainian company LLC WESTGASINVEST.

LLC WESTGASINVEST currently holds subsoil rights to nine unconventional (shale) gas license areas in the Lviv Basin of Ukraine, totalling approximately 3,800 square kilometres of acreage.

This Agreement was developed within the frameworks of the Memorandum of Understanding between Eni and Nadra Ukrayny, and the Cooperation Agreement with Cadogan Petroleum, both signed in 2011.

The Lviv Basin is considered to be one of the most prospective basins in Europe for the exploration of unconventional gas, being also the prosecution of the Lublin Basin in Poland which has already attracted substantial interest from the hydrocarbon industry.

Eni has been present in Ukraine since 2011 in the Zagoryanska and Pokroskoe licenses located in the Dniepr-Donetz Basin and operates with Cadogan.

This transaction, which strengthens the company's presence in Ukaraine, represents a major step forward for the development of Eni's global unconventional portfolio. It will allow Eni to establish the foundation from which to build a robust future in that country.

Eni made its entry in the European unconventional gas landscape in 2010 through the acquisition of 3 licenses in the Polish Baltic Basin on which it is currently operating, leveraging the extensive knowledge and expertise acquired through its JV in the Barnett Shale in Texas, the first shale gas basin in the world to be developed on a large-scale.