Ukrainian underground storage facilities contain 11.7 bcm of gas, inventory build going to plan - Naftogaz

MOSCOW. July 21 (Interfax) - Ukrainian underground storage facilities contained 11.7 billion cubic meters of gas as of July 19, with 2.5 bcm of it stored since the injection season began, Ukrainian media said, quoting the Naftogaz Group.

It said "2.5 billion cubic meters of gas have already been sent to Ukrainian underground storage facilities" since the beginning of the injection season in 2023. "This level corresponds to the same period in 2022. In general, the gas inventory build for the coming winter is going to plan, and we pumped even more gas than envisaged in July," said Alexei Chernyshov, Naftogaz CEO.

He said this was a "very good" result, given gas consumption in the second quarter of 2023 rose 13% compared to the same period in 2022.

"The gas consumption growth was caused by many factors, including the economy's gradual recovery. As we see from the data available, we are able to meet all out targets in preparation for the coming winter, Chernyshov said.

Ukrtransgaz, which operates the underground storage facilities, got the current gas injection season in preparation for the winter underway on April 17.

Gas offtake was 5.572 bcm during the last season winter season, from October 7 to the middle of April.

Naftogaz said at the beginning of March in a presentation for holders of its defaulted Eurobonds that 13.9 bcm of natural gas was used in the 2022/2023 heating season, including 1 bcm that were imported, 5.3 bcm drawn from underground storage and 7.6 bcm produced by Ukrgazvydobuvannya (UGV). The state company aims to store up at least 15 bcm of gas by the start of the 2023/2024 season.

Naftogaz owns 100% of Ukrtransgaz, which operates 10 underground storage facilities with overall capacity of around 30 billion cubic meters.