BRUSSELS, April 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine estimated Crimean offshore gas resources at $40 billion, Ukrainian parliament-appointed Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan said in an interview to Brussels Euractiv media.

"We have lost important areas on the Black Sea shelf. We estimate the losses at $40 billion as possible revenues from extraction of shale gas in Crimea," Prodan said.

As ITAR-TASS reported earlier, gas reserves in Crimea's territory were estimated at 165.3 billion cubic meters, oil at 47 million tonnes and gas condensate at 18.2 million tonnes. The figures were cited by Russian Natural Resources and Ecology Minister Sergei Donskoi.

There are 44 hydrocarbon deposits in the peninsula's territory, including ten oil, 27 gas and seven gas condensate fields. In addition, there are five gas fields and three gas condensate fields on the shelf of the Black Sea, and six gas deposits in the Sea of Azov.