Page 52 - UKRRptNov21

9.0 Industry & Sectors 9.1 Sector news
9.1.1 Oil & gas sector news
The launch of Nord Stream-2 may be delayed until May 2022, reported Bloomberg. “If regulators want to use all the time allotted for the project, it can be approved no earlier than May 8, 2022”, the agency said. Earlier, Russian officials said that the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline supply could begin "the next day" after the project is approved. It is noted that the Federal Network Agency of Germany must issue a draft decision on certification by January 8, after which it will be submitted to the European Commission. Experts have to assess whether the pipeline complies with EU market rules, which prohibit one company from being both the owner of the pipeline and the supplier of gas.
Gas reserves in underground storage facilities are 18.1 billion cubic meters as at November 3, reported by Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities (UGS). Approximately 800 million cubic meters have been used since the beginning of October, reported Naftogaz (ukrinform).
Ukraine could become self-sufficient in gas within five years, Vitrenko told the Ukraine Gas Investment Congress, according to Naftogaz. To get there, Ukraine needs to: increase domestic gas production; invest in renewables, particularly biogas; and invest in energy efficiency for housing and industry. Ukraine annually consumes about 30 billion cubic meters of gas. Of this total, 14 bcm are produced by the Naftogaz production unit, Ukrgazvydobuvannya; six bcm are produced by private companies; and another 10 bcm is imported, lagely Russian gas bought from European countries.
Ukraine starts its winter heating season this weekend with 18.7 billion cubic meters of gas in storage – about one third less than this time last year, reports Ukrtransgaz. Last Monday, Ukrtransgaz stopped pumping gas into Ukraine’s underground storage reservoirs, leaving them about 60% full. Due to record high gas prices in Europe, Naftogaz slowed its gas purchases in recent weeks.
After 18 months of bureaucratic paperwork, Thomas Reed, founder of Alpha Energy of Houston, tells the Kyiv Post that a governmental Inter-Agency Commission may meet on Monday and reject his company’s plan to drill up to 22 wells for gas near Ichnya, a Chernihiv city midway between Kyiv and the Russian border. Last Monday, Halliburton Corporation, the multi-billion dollar oil service company signed a memorandum of understanding with Alpha to drill the wells, a project that could cost $100 million. “You can’t produce gas with paperwork,” he tells the Post. If there is a rejection or more delays, he says: “This would be a very clear message to us that we are not welcome to do business in Ukraine.”
Nord Stream 2 AG has appealed against a German court ruling on an exemption from the EU gas directive. On May 15, 2020 the Federal Network Agency rejected Nord Stream 2 AG's application for a derogation from the rules of the EU Gas Directive, which was amended in 2019. Nord Stream 2 AG
52 UKRAINE Country Report November 2021 www.intellinews.com