On November 1, 2024, Ukraine started the season of natural gas withdrawal from its underground gas storage facilities (UGS), according to the data of the Association of European Underground Gas Storage Operators (GSE). While on October 30 and 31 a small filling of storage facilities was recorded, on November 1 the volume of their filling decreased by 0.05%.
On October 31, the head of Naftohaz, Oleksiy Chernyshov, stated on his Facebook page that the heating season was actively starting in Ukrainian cities.
He recalled that Ukraine used about 6.7 billion cubic meters of gas from its subway gas reservoirs during the 2023/2024 heating season, and expects the same figures for the 2024/2025 season.
As reported, Ukraine entered November 2023 with 16 billion cubic meters of gas stored in UGS facilities. In general, during the heating season 2023/24, 8.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas was withdrawn from storage facilities, of which Ukraine used 6.7 billion cubic meters. The gas withdrawal season lasted a total of 145 days.
Ukraine planned to enter the heating season of 2024/25 with gas reserves in UGS at least 13 billion cubic meters. At the same time, the low activity of gas injection by non-residents forced Naftohaz to buy gas and store it in Ukraine’s UGS facilities in the “customs warehouse” (CU) mode,
Chernyshov noted in his commentary to Energoreforma in early October that as of November 1, the company’s purchase of gas in the TC mode, which is carried out as a reserve at the expense of the EBRD loan, will amount to about 0.5-0.6 billion cubic meters.
According to former Energy Minister Olga Buslavets, in general, the reserves in Ukraine’s UGS facilities as of November 1, 2024 amounted to 12.9 billion cubic meters.
natural gas withdrawal, UKRAINE, underground storage facilities
