Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday announced that it has signed a preliminary $410m (£199m) agreement to take a 51 per cent interest in two Ukrainian gas fields controlled by a subsidiary of Regal Petroleum, the Aim-listed oil and gas group founded by Frank Timis.

Under the terms of a non-binding memorandum of understanding, Shell will pay $50m for a 51 per cent stake in the Mekhediviska-Golotvschinska and Svyrydivske gas fields, Regal’s main assets, and invest an initial $360m to develop the two gasfields 180km northeast of Kiev.