The RULG - Ukrainian Legal Group and its affiliate firm, the Ukrainian Legal Group, are proud to be central participants in crafting Ukraine's production sharing legislation. With input from major oil and gas firms and Ukrainian political leaders, our firms worked for four years (including 1998 and 1999 under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Energy, and in 2000 of USAID) to produce a viable and workable Ukrainian PSA Law. Please check in for information and updates on the progress of PSA legislation in Ukraine.

Our firm prepared a comprehensive report for the World Bank on the application of Ukraine's Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) Regime to the Use of Subsoil on Ukraine's Continental Shelf. The text of the report can be downloaded in English and Ukrainian.

May 3-6, 2004 Houston, TX
RULG attorneys Dmytro Syrota and Richard Smith submitted a report on the "Development of the Ukrainian Legislation on Production Sharing Agreements", which was presented at the largest oil & gas trade event in the U.S., the Offshore Technology Conference. The text of the report is available on this page in English.

Update on the Status of Ukraine's Production Sharing Legislation

2000-2003
A number of regulations (normative acts) were adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on PSA-related issues.  The list of PSA legislation and regulations and a brief description is available for download.

December 6, 2001
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine adopted a Resolution on the constitutionality of selected PSA Law provisions. A summary of this resolution is available for download.

June 8, 2000
The PSA Enabling Law was adopted and took effect. The English translation of the Enabling Law is available for download.

October 12, 1999
On October 6, 1999, President Kuchma signed the PSA Law. The Law took effect on October 12, 1999, the date of its publication. The English translation of the PSA Law is available for download.

It is expected that adoption of the PSA Law will put Ukraine back on the radar screen of potential investors in the oil and gas sector, since the Law creates attractive conditions for investing. It provides a solid and modern legal basis for potential PSA projects, and is, in many ways, much more favorable to investors than the Russian PSA Law. An overview analysis of the PSA Law is available in the "Publications" section of our Web site.

Although adoption of the PSA Law is a fundamental stage in establishing a PSA regime, a few more steps still need to be completed before this regime can be effective, including the adoption of the respective decrees by the Cabinet of Ministers, and normative acts by various ministries.

Please see our Publications section for our attorneys' published articles on the PSA regime.

Production Sharing Legislation Seminar in Kiev

On September 14, 1998, the RULG - Ukrainian Legal Group, P.A. conducted a one-day seminar in Kiev, under the auspices of the Energy Working Group of the United States - Ukraine Binational Commission, on how production sharing legislation may offer a promising basis for the extraction of useful minerals from Ukraine.

The goal of the seminar was to offer Ukrainian parliament members, state officials and specialists in the area of subsoil use, in particular the extraction of oil and gas, an opportunity to gain a better understanding of how production sharing works in various countries, and how it could work in Ukraine, as well as to exchange views about the appropriateness of production sharing agreements to stimulate investment in Ukraine. Below are selected seminar presentations made by our attorneys.

The Concept of Production Sharing
by Dr. Irina Paliashvili

Survey of Certain Provisions of the Draft PSA Law and Possible Amendments Thereto
by Tamara Lukanina

Survey of Applicable Legislation of Ukraine in the Area of Subsoil Use and Relevant Tax Legislation
by Vadim Dmitriev