Page 13 - FSUOGM Week 43 2022

FSUOGM POLICY FSUOGM

Ukraine more than doubles gas intake

from EU and offers use of its vast gas

UKRAINE UKRAINE has drastically increased gas intake Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halush-
from the EU, transporting 21-21.5mn cubic chenko wrote on social media, Interfax reported.
Ukraine is pumping metres per day, Ukraine Business News reported Moreover, Ukraine wants to be allowed to
more gas into UGS from on October 27. purchase EU gas to place in its reserves in the
Poland, Slovakia and The Gas Transmission System Operator of off-season. The Director for Interaction with
Hungary. Ukraine (GTSOU) noted that Ukraine is pump- Government Bodies and International Organi-
ing more European gas into its underground gas zations of GTSOU, Olga Bielkova, said that utilis-
storage (UGS) facilities. The volume has risen ing Ukraine’s existing gas infrastructure will help
from 8-10 mcm per day last week to 21-21.5 solve congestion issues in gas supplies from the
mcm on October 25 and 26, and comes primarily Mediterranean to Central and Eastern Europe.
from Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. The GTSOU stated earlier this year that
Due to the warm weather, imports of lique- Ukraine can help strengthen Europe’s energy
fied natural gas (LNG) and a drop in gas prices, security as it moves away from Russian gas.
European states have nearly filled up their gas Bielkova stressed this point and said that
storage, reaching 93.6% across the Bloc. Ukraine, Ukraine could be a valuable asset to the REPow-
which has some of the largest UGS facilities in erEU plan to move away from Russian fossil
Europe, is encouraging the EU to use its spare fuel dependence and develop interregional gas
capacity as members will likely have to purchase transportation.
more gas in several months. Kyiv approved the Gas Storage Development
"Gas prices are their lowest for several Plan for 2022-2031 over the summer and will
months. A great opportunity to use Europe's allocate $277mn to construct UGS facilities as
largest underground gas storage facilities with well as $168mn to develop infrastructure facil-
15bn cubic metres of spare capacity. Addi- ities and reconstruct UGS technological equip-
tional gas volumes will be needed this winter," ment. ™
ENERGY TRANSITION

Kazakhstan and Svevind Energy

sign for $50bn hydrogen project

KAZAKHSTAN SVEVIND Energy Group, the firm behind “Europe will not be able to produce all the
Europe’s largest wind farm in Sweden, has signed green hydrogen it will need,” Kropp added. “We
The green hydrogen a $50bn deal with Kazakhstan to construct a 20 see Europe as an important market, one of the
plant would be the gigawatt (GW) green hydrogen plant, expected most advanced ones when it comes to support
world's largest. to become one of the world’s largest, Svevind for green hydrogen, with Asia also a target mar-
said in a statement on October 27, Bloomberg ket for the fuel.”
reported. The new plant is planned as an industrial park
The plant would produce 2mn tonnes of of electrolyzers fed by wind and photovoltaic
green hydrogen per year from 2032 for export plants with a total capacity of around 40GW in
to Europe, equivalent to around one-fifth of the southwest Kazakhstan’s flat grasslands.
EU target for imported green hydrogen in 2030. Green hydrogen stands as a key element of
Kazakhstan's low costs of green hydrogen pro- the EU’s plan to decarbonise energy-intensive
duction make it competitive in the global hydro- industries by reducing its reliance on fossil fuels.
gen market. The EU hopes to produce 10mn tonnes of green
“The investment agreement signed today hydrogen along with importing an equivalent
takes the project into the next, decisive phase,” amount from abroad by the end of 2030.
said Wolfgang Kropp, founder and CEO of High energy prices, caused by Russia’s war in
Svevind Energy Group. “Kazakhstan is the ideal Ukraine, have made hydrogen more economi-
hosting country for the project as it has excellent cally viable compared to fossil fuels leading to a
year-round wind conditions and solar radiation.” global wave of new hydrogen projects. ™

Week 43 28•October•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P13