Ukraine has started importing gas through Slovakia, according to a Facebook post by Serhiy Makogon, former head of the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU).
“Previously, gas imports came from Hungary and Poland, but the cheaper Hungarian route is now fully loaded, so suppliers are forced to purchase the more expensive capacity from Slovakia,” he wrote.
According to Makogon, the current average daily import is about 14.5 million cubic meters, but to accumulate 13.6 billion cubic meters by November 1, imports need to be increased by two to three times.
At the same time, Slovakia has the largest import capacity — 42 million cubic meters per day.
As previously reported with reference to Makogon, Ukraine needs to import at least an additional 5 billion cubic meters of gas by November 1 to reach last year’s planned storage targets. That means approximately 870 million cubic meters per month or 29 million cubic meters daily.
He noted that importing the minimum 5 billion cubic meters will require $2–2.5 billion, of which $0.4 billion has already been provided by donors, with the potential for more. He also believes that funds for gas purchases can be found within Ukraine, including through direct capital injections into Naftogaz from the state budget or through debt settlement schemes using mutual offsets.
According to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), Ukraine began injecting gas into its underground storage facilities (UGS) on April 17, after drawing gas during the heating season. The withdrawal season began on November 1 with 87.037 TWh (8.315 billion cubic meters) in storage and ended on April 16 at 7.062 TWh (0.675 billion cubic meters) — the lowest level in Ukraine’s history.
GIE notes that this year, Ukraine exited the heating season with reserves at 2.22% of UGS capacity, while last year the season ended on March 30 with 11.12 TWh (3.388 billion cubic meters), or 11.12% of capacity.
Meanwhile, according to former Energy Minister Olha Buslavets, the total gas reserves in Ukraine’s UGS at the end of last week amounted to 6.1 billion cubic meters (including 4.7 billion cubic meters of “buffer gas”), which is 31% less than last year.
Over the past week, Ukraine’s net gas imports (excluding short-haul) averaged 14.4 million cubic meters per day (from Hungary and Poland), while daily consumption rose to 30–33 million cubic meters. According to the European platform Aggregated Gas Storage Inventory (AGSI), this allows for the injection of no more than 27 million cubic meters per day into UGS.
