Ukraine has contracted imports of 500 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas for February, former head of the board of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Andriy Kobolev has said.

"For February, as of today, volumes of approximately 500 million cubic meters have been contracted," he told Ukraine 24.

According to him, in general, in order to prepare for the next heating season, Ukraine needs to import up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas in 2022, because the country will come out of the current winter with heavily devastated underground storage facilities.

Kobolev noted that the price of gas for Ukraine in the next non-heating period will depend on the balance of supply and demand in Europe, its consumption by China, the ability of gas producers to provide additional volumes to the market, as well as the "behavior" of Gazprom, which depends on the decisions of the president of the Russian Federation.

"But it's not worth expecting a price of $100-200, it's hardly realistic. Analysts predict prices in the range of $400-600," he added.

Earlier, Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Haluschenko said that NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy plans to import about 300 million cubic meters of gas in February.

Imports of natural gas to Ukraine from the EU in January 2022 decreased by 9.8 times (by 394 million cubic meters) compared to the same period in 2021, to 44.8 million cubic meters.

Imports of natural gas to Ukraine from the EU in 2021 decreased by 6.2 times (by 13.34 billion cubic meters) compared to 2020, to 2.56 billion cubic meters.

As of February 6, 2022, Ukraine has 10.833 billion cubic meters of gas in its UGS facilities. The average daily taking in early February is one third lower than in January.