Ukraine starts to use gas from its underground storage sites

MOSCOW. Nov 5 (Interfax) - Ukraine began taking natural gas from its underground storage facilities (USFs) from November 1, Ukrainian media said, citing data from the Gas Storage Europe (GSE) association.

A small amount of gas was transferred to Ukraine's underground storage sites on October 30-31, but the volume of gas held in them declined by 0.05% on November 1.

Naftogaz CEO Alexei Chernyshov said on social media on October 31 that Ukrainian cities are actively starting the heating season.

Ukraine consumed around 6.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas from its USFs during the 2023-2024 heating season, Chernyshov said, projecting the country's use of gas from USFs at the same level in the 2024-2025 heating season.

As reported, Ukraine had 16 bcm of gas at its underground storage sites at the beginning of November 2023. A total of 8.5 bcm of natural gas was taken from the USFs in the 2023-2024 heating season, of which Ukraine used 6.7 bcm. Natural gas was taken from the underground storage sites for a total of 145 days.

Ukraine set the target of having at least 13 bcm of natural gas at its USFs by the start of the 2024-2025 heating season. However, the slow pace of pumping gas into Ukraine's USFs by non-residents prompted Naftogaz to buy gas and store it at Ukraine USFs using the "customs warehouse" procedure.

Chernyshov said in early October in comments to Ukraian media that the company's "customs warehouse" purchases of natural gas as a reserve funded by a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development loan would stand at around 0.5 bcm-0.6 bcm as of November 1.

According to former Ukrainian Energy Minister Olga Buslavets, Ukraine had a total of 12.9 bcm of gas at its underground storage sites on November 1, 2024.