Page 58 - UKRRptOct21
P. 58
9.0 Industry & Sectors 9.1 Sector news
9.1.1 Oil & gas sector news
Ukraine has accumulated 17 bcm of gas before the heating season" said Yuriy Vitrenko. "We are now approaching about 19 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas in our storage facilities, maybe even more. We have already exceeded the plan set by the government, which said it should be 17 bcm before the heating season" the head of Naftogaz said in an interview during the YES Brainstorming forum. According to Vitrenko, in 2016-18, Ukraine started the heating season with approximately 16 bcm in underground storage.
The transit of gas through the territory of Ukraine to Hungary was stopped on October 1. Even though the capacity from Ukraine to exit to Hungary is contracted for the entire gas year in the amount of 24.6 million cubic meters per day, the gas transit was not received. The contract between Hungary and Russia for the transportation of gas in the amount of 4.5 billion cubic meters per year came into force, whereby natural gas will be supplied to Hungary through the Turkish stream. However, the Ukrainian route is the most cost-effective because it is the shortest way to supply gas to Hungary, as evidenced by trade between companies in both countries. recent years ", said the General Director of OGTSU, Sergey Makogon (Ukrinform).
The governments of Ukraine and Hungary summoned each others’ ambassadors for discussions on Sept. 28 as tensions rose over Hungary’s gas supply contract with Gazprom. The deal with the Russian gas giant calls for 15 years of deliveries to Hungary via routes bypassing Ukraine. While the Hungarians are calling this an apolitical business deal, the Ukrainian side is calling it a blow to Ukrainian-Hungarian relations because of the economic effect on Ukraine. The Ukrainian government had already called off the meeting of a bilateral commission on economic cooperation scheduled for Sept. 29-30 because of the expected signing, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated in an interview on ICTV television on Sept 28. Kuleba claimed that the Ukrainian government would respond to this blow. The Hungarians have called the Ukrainian ambassador to complain about this response.
German Chancellor candidate Scholz said that Ukraine must remain a gas transit country. He stated that the new German Government will ensure that Ukraine remains a gas transit country and Russia adheres to the commitments it made during the negotiations on the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Mr. Scholz noted that the construction of the gas pipeline had been completed. "Now everyone should ensure that the guarantees associated with this project are accepted by everyone including Ukraine, remains a transit country and that we make sure that the gas supplies to some Eastern European countries, for example, are not jeopardized by Russia if it says that it no longer wants to serve this structure [GTS]
In the first big end run around Ukraine’s Russia-EU gas pipeline, Hungary signed a 15-year contract on September 27 with Russia’s Gazprom to receive
58 UKRAINE Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com