JSC Ukrtransgaz, the operator of Ukraine's underground gas storage (UGS) facilities, has started the gas refill season in preparation for next winter, Chairman of the Board of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Oleksiy Chernyshov has said.

"Now gas is being accumulated for the next heating season 2023/2024. Thanks to favorable weather conditions, the previous season of gas withdrawal from underground storage facilities was one of the shortest in Ukraine in recent years," he wrote on his Facebook page.

Chernyshov also said that in the period from October 7, 2022 to the middle of April 2023, 5.572 billion cubic meters of gas were withdrawn from Ukrainian UGS facilities.

As reported, in early March 2023, Naftogaz, in a company presentation for holders of defaulted eurobonds, said that 13.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas were used during the 2022/2023 heating season, of which 1 billion cubic meters was imported, 5.3 billion cubic meters of gas were withdrawn from underground storage facilities and 7.6 billion cubic meters were produced by JSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia.

At the beginning of March 2023, there were about 10 billion cubic meters of gas in UGS facilities in Ukraine, Naftogaz sets the task of accumulating at least 15 billion cubic meters of gas in storage facilities by the beginning of the 2023/2024 season.

The system of 12 underground storage facilities of Ukrtransgaz, 100% owned by NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, has a total design capacity of 31 billion cubic meters.