KIEV, Feb. 22 - The U.S. government will pay for an upcoming geological survey of Ukraine’s potential energy resources, including shale gas deposits, the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry reported Tuesday.

The financing arrangement comes less than a week after both governments, at a meeting of U.S.-Ukraine Strategic Partnership Commission in Washington, have agreed to cooperate on the issue.

“The assessment of the resources will be financed by the U.S. Department of State,” Mykola Zlochevskiy, the environment and natural resources minister, said in a statement.