DONETSK, July 2 - Development of shale gas in Ukraine holds great promise, First Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Kliuyev told journalists.

"We are starting to work on coal-bed methane, which is a separate program. Now new technology has appeared to extract not only coal-bed methane but shale gas," he said. "We have begun to study America's experience with shale gas, which has in just three years seen production rise from practically nothing to 40 billion cubic meters a year. The only thing, of course, is that the marginal production cost is higher, somewhere around $120-$150 per 1,000 cubic meters. But it still has great prospects. We are working on it now," Kliuyev said.