Page 63 - UKRRptOct20

9.0​ Industry & Sectors 9.1 ​Sector news
9.1.1​ Oil & gas sector news
A mysterious midnight explosion in a western Kyiv suburb knocked out the main pipeline that carries Russian gas across Ukraine to the EU ​on September 20. Repairs are to be completed in a day as officials seek to minimize the event. “Gas supplies to consumers are organized through other pipelines,” Ukraine’s Gas Transportation System Operator, assured after the explosion. “This situation in no way affects the transit of gas to the EU.” New York-based S&P Global Platts had a more dire view, telling its audience of energy professionals: “A major explosion near Kyiv has rocked the massive Kyiv-Western Ukraine-1 natural gas pipeline.”The Russia-EU gas line returned to use after a efw days after a mysterious explosion in a field in Chabany, five kilometers west of Kyiv city. Ukraine’s Gas Transmission Operator said 38 meters of pipe were replaced and welds on the high-pressure line were checked for defects. Police are investigating to see if the 30-year-old pipe self-destructed due to old age, or if the midnight explosion was due to sabotage. Covered extensively in the German media, the explosion took place as German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under heavy pressure to freeze work on the Nord Stream 2 Russia-Germany trans-Baltic gas line.
Ukraine is entering October 2020 with a record 28bn cubic meters (bcm) of gas stocks in its underground gas storage (UGS) facilities. ​So, as of September 29, the gas stocks reached 27.978 bcm, or 90.4% of the total design storage capacity, according to the operational data of JSC Ukrtransgaz. The level of gas stocks of 27 bcm was reached on September 17, 26 bcm on September 5, 25 bcm on August 26, 24 bcm on August 17, 23 bcm on August 8, and 22 bcm on July 29. Since the end of the season for withdrawing gas from storage facilities from March 26 as of September 29, 2020, gas stocks in Ukrainian UGS facilities had increased by 77.3%, or by 12.194 bcm. The system of 12 underground storage facilities of Ukrtransgaz that fully belongs to NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy has a total design capacity of 31 bcm.
Ukraine will earn about $2bn in transit fees for shipping Russian gas across Ukraine to the EU in 2020​, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev told journalist Yanina Sokolova on her Youtube channel. Through August, Ukraine shipped 35bn cubic meters, 42% less than during the first eight months of last year. Under the new “ship or pay” contract signed last December, Gazprom is to pay for shipping 65bcm this year. Last year, Ukraine earned almost $3bn shipping 89.6bcm. From 2021 to 2024, Gazprom is contracted to ship 40bcm a year. This level will further cut Ukraine’s revenues, to about $1.2bn a year.
A proposed 20-year, $20bn deal to import half of Ukraine’s gas imports through a US LNG gas trader has fallen apart ​after New York news outlets reported that US prosecutors were probing former Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s role in brokering the deal to favour his Houston company, Energy Transfer Partners. Last May, Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers approved a deal in principle with the trader, Louisiana Natural Gas Exports. But in the middle of
63​ UKRAINE Country Report​ October 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com