Ukrainian gas imports increase as country enters heating season

Kiev, November 12 - Neftegaz.RU. Ukraine increased its natural gas imports to almost 13.3 billion cu m during the first 10 months of the year, 45.5 % higher than in the corresponding period of 2018, Interfax Ukraine has reported citing recent data from Ukrtransgaz, the transit and storage arm of Ukrainian national energy holding Naftogaz.

Between January and October, almost two-thirds of gas supplies (more than 8.5 billion cu m came from Slovakia, a 51.3 % increase in imports from Slovakia compared with the same period of 2018. Hungary accounted for 26 % of supplies (close to 3.5 billion cu m), which is 19.1 more than in 2018 while Polish supplies, which mounted to 1.3 billion cu m, more than doubled in the reporting period.

Meantime, Ukrtransgaz also announced that the country’s natural gas stocks in its underground storage facilities (USFs) stood at 21.65 billion cu m as of November 9, 26 % higher than a year ago, with 69 % of the USFs capacity being filled.

Naftogaz is yet to negotiate a gas sales and transit agreement with Russian Gazprom. Last week, the Russian government said that ongoing judicial disputes between Naftogaz and Gazprom should also be settled in order to strike a gas deal. The next round of the EU-mediated gas talks are due at the end of November.