This picture shows a ChornomorNaftogaz drilling rig off the coast of Crimea. In 2014, Russia’s military forcibly seized Naftogaz daughter company ChornomorNaftogaz’s drilling rigs and stole 80% of Ukraine’s Black Sea resources.
Talks about exploiting the Black Sea shelf have been ongoing since 2012 when estimates revealed that Ukraine’s deep territorial waters may contain more than 2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
Shortly thereafter, Russia stole most of Ukraine’s offshore oil and gas deposits when it annexed Crimea in 2014, extending its control into Ukrainian territorial waters.