In April and the first half of October 2023, GTS Operator LLC transported more than 3 bcm of natural gas from the EU and Moldova to Ukraine, which is seven times more than the volume of the resource transported during the same period last year (more than 414 mcm), the Energy Ministry reported.
Of the transported gas, 2.4 billion cubic meters of fuel belonging to foreign companies are stored in domestic UGS facilities, according to its release on Monday.
According to the GTSOU, cited by the Energy Ministry, the main transportation route remains the Slovakian one, with 45% of the gas volumes coming from there. Natural gas was also supplied from Hungary, Poland, and the Trans-Balkan route (from Romania via Moldova).
The Ministry of Energy noted that the Trans-Balkan route was used for the first time this year, mainly transporting gas ordered by foreign traders for storage in Ukraine.
As reported, natural gas supplies to Ukraine in September 2023 from the European Union and Moldova amounted to 982.7 bcm. In April-September 2023, Ukraine received more than 2.8 bcm from the EU and Moldova, which exceeds the corresponding figures for the same periods in 2021 and 2022.
As noted by Oleksiy Chernyshov, CEO of Naftogaz Group, the volume of non-resident gas in Ukraine’s underground storage facilities reached 2.2 bcm at the beginning of October.
Stress testing conducted by the Ukrainian GTS and UGS operators with the assistance of USAID in August 2023 confirmed the high reliability of the Ukrainian gas infrastructure, including the storage and transportation of gas from foreign customers, even in the face of military risk of damage to key assets.
