Yesterday Naftogaz of Ukraine and Marathon International Petroleum, a subsidiary of Marathon Oil Company, signed a 4-year agreement for the exploration of a 30 ths sq. km area in the North-East of Dnieper-Donets basin. According to Naftogaz, prospective resources in the area amount to 176 mln mt of oil (~1300 MMbbls) and 200 bcm of gas (~1250 MMboe). Marathon has recently opened a representative office in Kyiv. This is the second global major to explore oil & gas in Ukraine – in 2006 Naftogaz signed an agreement with Shell Exploration & Production B.V.