Page 52 - UKRRptMay20

9.0​ Industry & Sectors 9.1 ​Sector news
9.1.1​ Oil & gas sector news
Ukraine needs only an additional 2-3bn cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas for storage for the next heating season ​because it is sitting on a record volume after an unusually warm winter, the state-run gas transit operator said on Tuesday. The country had 15.9 bcm in underground storage as of March 31, which is 80% more than at the same date last year, Ukrtransgaz said. Ukraine built up record reserves of 21.8 bcm for the 2019/20 heating season, fearing a possible shutdown of Russian transit shipments due to a dispute over a new gas transit agreement. Russian and Ukrainian companies signed a five-year deal at the end of 2019, safeguarding the transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine, just 24 hours before the previous agreement expired. Ukraine used to meet its gas needs with imports from Russia but has not bought Russian gas directly since November 2015 after Kyiv’s relations with Moscow soured over Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Kyiv now imports from Europe.
Ukraine ends heating season with largest gas stocks for 30 years. ​From the start of the heating season 2019-2020, Ukraine used 5.98 bcm of gas from its underground storage facilities (UGS),​ ​Naftogaz​ said in a press release on April 11. As of 7 April 2020, 15.8 bcm of gas was stored in Ukrainian UGS facilities, which is almost 45% more than the previous year. Gas volumes in Ukrainian UGS facilities at the end of the heating season 2019-2020 are the largest for the past 30 years. The second largest volume of 15.4 bcm was recorded in the heating season 2008-2009. Weather conditions made it possible to end gas withdrawal from UGS facilities and begin the injection season in March. In 2019, gas injection began in April. “We accumulated a significant amount of gas in our UGS facilities in preparation for possible interruption of gas transit in 2020. This strengthened Ukraine's position when negotiating a new transit contract and helped ensure beneficial conditions for Ukraine. Now the large stock of gas in our storages will help Naftogaz navigate through the current volatile period,” commented Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev.
With Poland’s gas transit contract with Russia’s Gazprom due to expire on May 18, Ukraine successfully carried out test deliveries for gas traders on two routes to Poland​. In one, gas left Slovakia, did a U-turn through Ukrainian pipelines, and entered southeast Poland. In the second, gas was delivered to Poland directly from storage caverns in western Ukraine. “These deliveries confirmed the possibility of fully providing the necessary [gas] resource to Poland in the event of interruption / reduction of deliveries from the Russian Federation,” Sergiy Makogon, general director of the new Gas Transmission Operator of Ukraine, writes on Facebook. “Ukraine has once again proved that it continues to be an important element of Europe's energy security.”
52​ UKRAINE Country Report​ May 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com