Ukraine ready to provide 50% of its storage facilities' capacity to create gas reserves for next winter - minister

KYIV. May 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine stands ready to provide foreign customers with 50% (15 billion cubic meters) of the capacity of its underground gas storage facilities to create gas reserves for the next winter, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said.

"Before winter comes, we have the time that we need to use to jointly buy gas from alternative sources and to pump it into storage facilities, including the Ukrainian ones, where we can reserve at least 15 billion cubic meters [bcm] for our partners," Halushchenko said on social media on Thursday.

The minister also called on European countries to reduce the amount of natural gas used to generate electricity as much as possible, resorting to other generation options.

"The Ukrainian energy system is now part of Europe's joint power grid, and we may export electricity, 70% of which are generated using nuclear power plants and renewable sources independent of hydrocarbons," he said.

As reported, at the beginning of April 2022, there were around 9 bcm of gas at Ukraine's underground gas storage facilities, whose designed capacity is 31 bcm.