Page 54 - UKRRptJan21

9.0​ Industry & Sectors 9.1 ​Sector news
9.1.1​ Oil & gas sector news
Gas transportation from Europe to Ukraine hit almost 16bcm last year, 12% more than in 2019 and 27% more than the annual average for 2016-18. ​About 10bcm went into storage as 52 Ukrainian companies and 30 foreign ones took advantage of Ukraine’s new ‘short-haul’ and ‘customs warehouse’ storage regimes. With the start of the European winter heating system, draw down from storage started in November. Today, EU gas prices are at a 2-year high. Next April, Ukraine will have 7bcm of available storage space, forecasts Ukrtransgaz.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic opened Serbia’s 403 km extension of the Balkan Stream natural-gas pipeline in the first week of January​, AP reports from Belgrade. Fuel for the line comes from Anapa, Russia, and then flow 930 km across the Black Sea in TurkStream. From northern Turkey, the line supplies Bulgaria, Romania and now, Serbia. It’s opening last year caused the sharp drop in Russian gas flowing across Ukraine. A Balkan Stream extension is planned to Hungary, currently a major importer of Russian gas through Ukraine. Last July, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced TurkStream and Nord Stream 2 as “Kremlin tools.”
UBJ, BNKMM
Russia cut its volume of gas pumped across Ukraine by 38% in 2020,
compared to the previous year. Although Gazprom pumped 55.8bn cubic meters through Ukraine’s east-west pipeline system, Russia’s state gas export monopoly will pay for the full 65bcm contracted for 2020, reports the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine. This year through 2024, Gazprom is contracted to ship 40bcm a year through Ukraine.
Natural gas reserves reached a record 28.4bn cubic meters as of Oct. 17, 2020​, or 33% higher than for the same period last year. According to Andriy Kobolyev, gas storage facilities are 90% full, the highest number for the last ten years.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved December 27 seven production-sharing agreements with private and state companies for the production of oil and gas​. Only one foreign company is involved – Houston-based Aspect Energy, a business in partnership with Sigma Bleyzer. A Canadian company, Vermilion Energy, dropped out in November, citing low oil and gas prices. Companies have until January 7 2021 to sign their agreements.
54​ UKRAINE Country Report​ January 2021 ​ ​www.intellinews.com