Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine Ihor Nasalyk expects National Joint Stock Company (NJSC) "Naftogaz of Ukraine" to familiarize the Ministry with its plans and estimates of natural gas injection into the underground storage (UGS) facilities.

"According to the plan, 17 billion cubic meters [of gas] are to be injected until October 1, 2017; as of today, NJSC "Naftogaz of Ukraine" still has not submitted its plan of filling the UGS facilities", he said on Monday during the teleconference on the issues of preparing for the heating season in Kyiv, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine.

Reportedly, while preparing for the 2016/2017 heating season, the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine and Naftogaz of Ukraine disagreed about the volume of gas the country should have in its UGS facilities to enter the winter season. NJSC "Naftogaz of Ukraine" believed that the gas reserves of 14.5 - 15 billion cubic meters would be sufficient while the Ministry insisted on injecting 17 billion cubic meters of gas.

As a result, Ukraine started the 2016/2017 heating season in the middle of October with 14.7 billion cubic meters of gas in its reserves and finished it at the end of March with 8.1 billion cubic meters.

According to the action plan of preparing the Fuel and Energy Complex (FEC) for the 2017/2018 autumn/winter period, which plan was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, Ukraine is to accumulate in its UGS facilities 17 billion cubic meters of gas until November 1, 2017. The gas accumulation schedule is to be developed by July 1.

As of June 17, 2017, the gas reserves in Ukraine's UGS facilities totaled 10.851 billion cubic meters, which is 34% more than as of March 22, when this year's lowest gas reserves in the UGS facilities were recorded.

In 2016, the overall gas volumes withdrawn from the storage facilities exceeded its injection by 2 billion cubic meters. On a year-on-year basis, the gas withdrawal totaled 8 billion 390.68 million cubic meters, and the amount of gas injected was 6 billion 388.74 million cubic meters.

Ukrtransgaz, which is fully owned by NJSC "Naftogaz of Ukraine", operates the country's gas pipeline system and 12 underground gas storage facilities with a total capacity of 31 billion cubic meters.