Ukraine opens underground gas storage season

MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) - Ukrtransgaz, Ukraine's underground gas storage facilities operator, has started its gas-pumping season, Ukrainian media said, citing a social media post from Naftogaz Group CEO Alexey Chernyshov.

"Winter ends when the season for pumping gas into our gas storage facilities begins. Therefore, I now officially congratulate everyone on the start of spring," he said.

During the 2023/2024 heating season, 8.5 bcm of natural gas were extracted from the underground facilities, 6.7 bcm of which were used by Ukraine, he said.

In total, the gas extraction season lasted 145 days.

Ukraine started the season in November 2023 with reserves of 16 bcm in its underground gas storage facilities; as of mid-March 2024, they had dropped to 8.1 bcm, 0.74 bcm of which belonged to non-residents and 2.2 bcm of which belonged to residents, while 4.6 bcm were the property of Naftogaz Group.

The volume of gas from foreign traders and energy companies pumped into Ukrainian underground facilities for storage reached 2.5 bcm in 2023. This year Naftogaz is expecting to increase this figure to 4 bcm.