Ukraine may soon become the main supplier of biomethane to the European Union, with the share of Ukrainian biomethane in the European market reaching 20% in the future, said Georgiy Geletukha, Chairman of the Board of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine (BAU).
“Ukraine has almost ideal conditions for biomethane production. We have medium and large agricultural enterprises with 3 thousand hectares of land (under cultivation – IF-U). We can get raw materials for the plant from a single source. We have a well-developed gas structure: distribution networks and a gas transmission network. We have the highest density of gas network coverage in the whole of Europe. We have the largest area of agricultural land and, accordingly, the largest resource. Therefore, this is a very promising topic for us,” he said at the Ukrainian Investment Congress in Kyiv.
Heletukha emphasized that Europe has ambitious plans for the production and consumption of biomethane and aims to consume about 35 billion cubic meters in 2030. At present, European production is estimated at around 3 billion cubic meters. Given the current trends in the alternative energy market, the EU will be able to increase its own production to 20 billion cubic meters of biomethane within five years.
The expert explained this delay in the development of the biomethane market in Europe by the lack of large free areas of agricultural land and, accordingly, the inability to produce the necessary amount of raw materials for processing.
“And according to all trends, it will not have time to produce 35 billion cubic meters. Well, according to the trends over the past five years, they will reach about 20 billion cubic meters. The market there (in the EU – IF-U) is completely different for agricultural products. It is deficit. And it will be deficient at least until 2050. And after 2030, Europe is setting new plans – production and consumption of 100 billion cubic meters of biomethane by 2050. It will be the same story. That is, they do not have time, they do not have enough raw materials,” Geletukha emphasized.
He suggested that if Ukraine were to produce up to 15 billion cubic meters of biomethane now, the EU would “buy everything with a bang.”
The UABIO CEO reminded that three powerful producers – MHP, Vitagro and Gals Agro – have already launched biomethane production in Ukraine, of which two have already started exporting, and the third is accumulating stocks in storage and will start exporting in the near future.
According to him, in Ukraine, the range of biomethane producers and potential exporters will expand in 2025. They will be joined by another MHP enterprise, Teofipol Energy Company and Józefów-Mykolaiv Biogas Company. In total, Ukrainian facilities will produce 111 million cubic meters of biomethane per year.
At a cost of EUR900 per 1 thousand cubic meters of biomethane produced from crop waste or from livestock waste, including manure or litter, at EUR1100-1200 per 1 thousand cubic meters, Ukraine will be able to receive up to EUR100 billion a year from exporting these products to the EU, Geletukha predicts.
As reported, the first batch of Ukrainian biomethane of 67 thousand cubic meters was exported on February 7, 2025 by Vitagro, an energy holding whose plant with a capacity of 3 million cubic meters of biomethane per year operates in Khmelnytsky region. The exports were made to Germany.
On February 11, MHP’s biomethane plant Oril-Leader (Dnipropetrovska oblast) exported 27.4 thousand cubic meters of biomethane, becoming the second Ukrainian company to do so. MHP exported biomethane via gas pipelines across the Ukrainian-Polish border to Germany. The buyer was Vitol. The capacity of Oril-Leader is 11 million cubic meters per year.
The Gals Agro agricultural holding has built a biomethane plant with a capacity of 3 million cubic meters in Chernihiv region. The company has already been connected to the grid and is preparing to make its first biomethane export transaction.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law on the development of biomethane production in Ukraine (No. 5464), which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada at the second reading on October 21. The corresponding note appeared on the page of the bill on the parliament’s website on Tuesday.According to the press service of the State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine, this law lays the foundation for the production and development of biomethane in Ukraine, as well as its export to the countries of the European Union.It is specified that for this purpose it is planned to introduce the appropriate terminology, the possibility of verifying purified biogas (biomethane), the physical and chemical characteristics of which must meet the requirements of regulatory legal acts for natural gas, issuing a guarantee of origin for the volume of biomethane produced, entering a register of production and consumption of biomethane.“Development of a register of production and use of biomethane and cooperation with similar registers of EU countries is a potential opportunity to sell biomethane to other countries, confirmed by a guarantee of origin,” the message reads.It notes that, in pursuance of the State Energy Efficiency Law, work has already begun on the development of a procedure for the functioning of the biomethane register.As reported, bill No. 5464 adopted by the Verkhovna Rada regulates the concept of “biomethane” as “biogas,” which in its physical and technical characteristics corresponds to the regulatory legal acts on natural gas for supply to gas distribution and transmission networks or for use as a motor fuel.In addition, the document provides for the creation of a biomethane register for accounting in the system, establishes the procedure for the formation of guarantees of origin of biomethane.According to the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine, the potential for biomethane production in Ukraine is 8 billion cubic meters annually, which corresponds to 25% of domestic gas consumption.According to Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Roman Leschenko, the development of biomethane production gives Ukraine every chance to become a center for its production and supply, as well as a source of energy security for Europe. Its use in production chains will allow Ukrainian farmers to obtain an alternative source of energy from waste and secondary products of their own production and, as a result, to use biomethane instead of natural gas for generating heat and electricity, as well as to use it as a fuel for transport and as a raw material for the chemical industry.
The sale of agricultural products and residues of its production for the operation of biogas plants can become a guarantor of the state’s energy security, the agricultural sector can significantly strengthen NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy from the point of view of energy independence. As reported on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Tuesday with reference to Minister Roman Leshchenko, the adoption at the final reading bill No. 5464 on amendments to the law of Ukraine on alternative fuels regarding the development of biomethane production by the Verkhovna Rada last week gives Ukraine every chance to become a center for the production and supply of biomethane, as well as a source of energy security for Europe.
“In the conditions of very expensive energy resources – gas and electricity, not only food security, but also energy security is impossible without the agricultural sector,” Leshchenko said.
He said that the development of the biomethane market will allow Ukrainian farmers to obtain an alternative source of energy from waste and residues of their own production, and as a result, use biomethane instead of natural gas for the production of heat and electricity, as well as fuel for transport and raw materials for the chemical industry.
