Ukrainian and Hungarian transmission system operators – Ukrtransgaz and FGSZ Ltd. – increased the technical capacity of natural gas transportation from Hungary to Ukraine by 14% at the point of GMS Beregadorets to 19.5 million cubic meters per day, the press service of Ukrtransgaz has reported.
The relevant agreements have been signed between Ukrtransgaz JSC and FGSZ Ltd, and will come into force on 30 May 2019.
“The new agreements enable a significant increase of the gas import capacity from Hungary to Ukraine. This development is particularly important in light of the preparations for the winter season 2020,” Ukrtransgaz said, recalling that to mitigate supply risks, Ukraine aims to accumulate 20 billion cubic meters of gas in its underground storages by the beginning of the next heating season.
Ukrtransgaz said that the Hungarian import direction has gained in popularity in recent years among Ukrtransgaz customers. In 2016, about 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas was imported from Hungary to Ukraine. In 2017 this figure rose to 2.8 billion cubic meters, and in 2018 it reached 3.4 billion cubic meters. Since the beginning of 2019, there has been additional year-on-year growth of 66% to 0.92 billion cubic meters.
“With tariffs for the exit points of the Hungarian gas transmission system from April to September at the competitive to European ones level, there is a strong possibility that the current growth trend will continue over the coming months,” the company said.
