ukraine is low-hanging fruit

Apart from GDN and HOG (of the Australians) being early movers in the new rush in the Ukraine it looks like they are being joined by some enthusiastic majors now.

http://www.publics.bg/en/news/7882/Ukraine_Mulls_Shale_Gas_Extraction.html

"03.05.2012 12:57

Ukraine Mulls Shale Gas Extraction

For the first time in more than two centuries, Ukraine sees its way to independence from Moscow.

That path tracks through a patch of sealed Soviet-era natural gas wells that are ready to be tapped once again and fields of shale rocks that the U.S. Geological Survey estimates will hold enough gas to fire the eastern European nation for 100 years or more. Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), and Chevron Corp. (CVX) -- three of the world’s four largest oil companies -- bid last week for Ukrainian exploration rights.

"Ukraine is low-hanging fruit,” said Bertrand des Pallieres, chief executive officer of Cadogan Petroleum Plc (CAD), a London-based oil explorer with interests in 14 Ukrainian fields. “Ukraine has well-known basins that have been totally undermanaged and underinvested,” he said, as quoted by Bloomberg. “There is a consensus in the industry that its potential is great.”

The same technology that unlocked natural gas from shale rocks and made the U.S. the world’s largest natural gas producer is being rolled out across eastern Europe, home to the continent’s most promising prospects. If drilling succeeds, Ukraine will be able to lessen its reliance on Russian export monopoly OAO Gazprom for its natural gas supply, ending the economy’s vulnerability to decisions taken in the Kremlin."

Bold is my emphasis, but

a patch of sealed Soviet-era natural gas wells that are ready to be tapped once again

sounds a lot like what GDN is up to also.