KIEV, Feb. 15 – Ukraine has enough shale gas in its soil to meet domestic demand, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Friday adding that ongoing extraction projects will have their impact in five to seven years.

“We have enough shale gas deposits to meet Ukraine’s demand in this kind of fuel,” Azarov wrote on his Facebook page, responding to a question from a reader.

The comment comes less than a month after Ukraine signed a production sharing agreement with Royal Dutch Shell to explore and develop shale gas from Yuzivska deposits in Kharkiv and Donetsk regions.