Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist Pavel Fuks urged competent authorities and associations to convey truthful information about gas production in Ukraine.

In his Telegram-channel, he reacted to the events in the Kharkiv region, where residents of the village of Vvedenka are concerned about possible gas extraction and for this reason go to rallies.

"People live in prejudices and myths, which often arose from a lack of information, and then, instead of science and facts, the vacuum is filled with rumors and interpretations. The theme of extraction of "shale gas" in Ukraine for me is indicative. In the Kharkov region the story has seriously unraveled: "water disappeared, fish died, people get sick, oncology goes off scale". All these incidents allegedly take place in the village of Vvedenka.

Local residents are concerned and go to rallies. The right to protest can be realized by everyone, but the question is in the arguments! If you dig deeper, it turns out, that in Vvedenka there is no production of gas (neither traditional nor slate), but there is an exploration of possible sources", - wrote Pavel Fuks.

He draws attention to the fact that rallies can have quite real customers: "Ukrainian journalists, who covered the event, focus on the external factor. I am ready to agree and add: to ensure energy independence, only legislative decisions will not be enough".

 

Fuks believes that competent authorities and associations should conduct a large-scale outreach work with the public. "It has long been necessary to worry about bringing truthful information about gas production to people. This theme leaves so much unsaid (the best soil for "conspiracy theories") because it is quite complicated. Competent authorities and associations should not only create groups on Facebook, but also go offline. There - your target audience", - added the businessman and philanthropist.

If we talk about the extraction of "slate", then, according to Fuks, it has nothing to do with water pollution:

"On depleted wells and where the gas lies in solid rocks, the drilling takes place vertically until the hard rock comes into contact. Then the drilling rig goes to the side horizontally, where a mixture of water and sand is poured under pressure, thanks to which cracks form in the ground. The gas flows through them into the main channel".

Pavel Fuks also added that energy independence has certain figures. Already in the late 20's - early 30's, Ukraine could reach the level of gas production of more than 70 billion cubic meters per year (for comparison: today we produce about 21 billion cubic meters, and we use slightly more than 30 billion cubic meters of gas).

"Technologies and money for the implementation of projects are with investors. The main thing is not to mix corruption with populism. Just this newly formed "gas" is very harmful, it destroys any initiative", -summed up Fuks.