Ukraine has significantly increased its gas imports in 2019
Against the backdrop of a possible Russian gas transit halt, Ukraine is increasing gas imports and pumping into storages
In January-July 2019, 7.59 billion cubic meters of natural gas were imported to Ukraine from Europe – up 36.1% (2.015 billion cubic meters) compared to the same period of 2018. This was reported by the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency with reference to the operational data of JSC "Ukrtransgaz".
Imports from Slovakia increased by 30.2% to 4.649 billion cubic meters of gas, from Hungary – by 33.7% to 2.103 billion cubic meters, from Poland – by 93.8% to 840.6 million cubic meters.
Note that in 2019 Ukraine plans to pump about 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas to underground gas storage facilities (UGS) due to fears of stopping Russian gas transit through Ukraine since January 2020.NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine brought in almost USD 1 billion in international capital markets for gas purchases through the sale of bonds.
NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine has already reported the accumulation of more than 16 billion cubic metersof gas, as of early August.
READ ALSO: Foreign companies store nearly 1.4 billion cubic meters in Ukrainian UGS
Recall that from November 2015 Ukraine imports natural gas only from the western direction.
JSC "Ukrtransgaz" is an operator of gas pipelines and underground gas storage facilities. The sole shareholder of the company is NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine.
