Ukraine's DTEK calls for dropping gas export ban

MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) - Lifting a ban on Ukrainian gas exports to the European Union member states will allow the gas producing companies to plan investments in their production normally, DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko said.

"This makes prices predictable for us. We are selling on the spot market in Ukraine, but our business cannot work that way. We cannot plan investments in production for a year or two like this. We need long-term contracts to understand exactly how much and at what price we will sell," Ukrainian media quoted him as saying in an interview with Forbes Ukraine.

The ban was feasible in 2022, when there was an energy crisis in Europe and prices hit record highs, Timchenko said.

"But now there is no reason for it. Prices have stabilized, there is enough gas both in the EU and in Ukraine. We should drop this ban and enter the EU market with a volume of 367 billion cubic meters of gas per year," Timchenko said.

DTEK invested 130 million euros in gas production in 2023, but failed to maintain it at the 2022 level of two billion cubic meters, he said.

"We dropped in 2023 because we did not invest in the first half of 2022 due to uncertainty. On top of that, we had around one billion cubic meters of gas in storage facilities, which we could not sell at that time. The investment budget for production is 120 million euros this year. The goal is to return to the level of two billion cubic meters in the near future," Timchenko said.

As reported, the ban on natural gas exports, which was imposed in 2022, was extended to 2024.