Threat of an environmental catastrophe in connection with shale gas production in Svyatogorsk

In January 2020, Naftogaz announced that it had put into operation the Svyatogorsk location of gas, which is located at the Yuzovsky site. The plot of 7.9 thousand square kilometers is located in the Dnipro-Donetsk oil and gas basin in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions. In 2013, Shell and Nadra Yuzovskaya LLC signed a production sharing agreement, which provided for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons, but in 2014 this project had to be closed due to the fighting in the Donbas. 

Nafotgaz said that it is already ready to invest UAH 3.6 billion in the exploration and development of four oil and gas sites. And the first pilot project was the Svyatogorsk field. In other words, its development is the key to mastering the entire Yuzovsky site. 

Currently, near the village of Studenok, which is located in the Kharkiv region of the Izyumsky district, active deforestation has begun in small areas for further installation of shale towers, and working towers are located near the village of Yaremovka, whose residents complain about the disappearance of water in Wells after their launch. 

Bolshaya burovaya is also located near the village of Sinichino, which is actively working on shale gas production. According to a local resident, water with chemicals used to break the layers is taken to the forest plantation by tanks and poisons the soil and the surrounding environment. 

Natalia Gudchenko, a resident ecologist in Svyatogorsk, gave an interview in which she explained that because of the chemicals used to extract gas, the soil and all living things will die, and because of reservoir breaks, they will shift and the water level in the Seversky Donets will fall, and the river provides almost the entire Donetsk region with drinking water from Slavyansk to Mariupol.