Russia intends to stop gas production from the Odessa field

As a result of Ukraine's lawsuit in the International Arbitration Court in The Hague, Russia intends to stop gas production from the Odessa field

Ukraine's claims in the litigation relate to the issue of Russia's economic activity in the Black Sea after the annexation of Crimea. Russia annexed the peninsula in March 2014. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko accused Russia of infringing on the natural resources of the Ukrainian sea shelf by extracting gas from the Odessa field, as well as other fields off the coast of Crimea. In August 2016, Ukraine went to court.

The fact is that if we assume that Russia is striving for an exclusive economic zone within 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coast of the adjacent peninsula, then the Russian and Ukrainian economic zones will overlap. In such cases, the courts refer to the definition of a line that is equidistant from the nearest points of the coast of both sides. However, then Odessa area will be behind this middle line in the Ukrainian economic zone.