Page 53 - UKRRptDec22

9.0 Industry & Sectors 9.1 Sector news
9.1.1 Oil & gas sector news
Ukraine accumulated 14bn cubic meters of gas in its storage facilities.
That’s in addition to 1.3mn tonnes of stored coal, “enough to sustainably get through the winter,” said Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. The prime minister also said that the Ministry of Economy does not predict a fuel shortage even amid increased imports of diesel and gasoline generators and the related increase in fuel demand.
Gazprom has threatened to reduce shipments via the Sudzha transit point in the amount of gas volumes not being received by Moldova. This situation recalls the beginning of 2009, when the Russian-Ukrainian gas contract had expired without renewal, and disputes over gas flows and accusations of unauthorized withdrawals from the transit pipelines intended for Europe resulted in Gazprom reducing exports via Ukraine to zero. On November 22 only 42mmcm of gas is shipped via Ukraine, far less than back then, but Europe’s gas market is in a very weakened state, and the possibility of an escalating gas dispute, that removes that relatively small amount of Russian flows, would likely drive prices much higher. From Gazprom’s point of view, higher European prices would be less and less important due to the loss of one of its very few working export routes to Europe.
Gazprom will not reduce gas transit through Ukraine. The Russian gas monopolist no longer plans to stop supplying gas to Moldova via Ukraine. The company had previously stated that it was going to halt gas supplies on November 28. A decision was made not to reduce the supply of gas to the Suja gas station for transit to Moldova, the company announced. Gazprom explained its decision by saying that the Moldovagaz company has come into compliance with contractual obligations regarding payment to Gazprom for the current supplies of Russian gas in November. At the same time, the Russian monopolist emphasized that the Moldovan side regularly violates contractual obligations regarding gas payments, so it reserves the right to reduce or completely stop the supply of gas.
Naftogaz Ukraine has enough funds to purchase gas for the country's needs. The government of Ukraine transferred UAH 12.7B to Naftogaz to purchase gas to provision Ukrainian gas storage facilities. Ukraine had received these funds from the Canadian government. “At today's meeting, the procedure for using state budget funds for gas purchases in 2022-2023 was approved," said Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Shmyhal also reported that Norway allocated approximately €200M to Ukraine this week to purchase gas. Before that, the EBRD also agreed to provide €300M for these needs. Funds will also be provided to the Naftogaz of Ukraine. As of November, Ukraine has accumulated 14.6 billion cubic meters of gas. There are also 1.5 million tons of coal in TPP and CHP warehouses.
A plentiful gas source was discovered in the Kharkiv region on a 50-year-old deposit. State company Ukrgazvydobuvannya drilled a new well
53 UKRAINE Country Report December 2022 www.intellinews.com