The blocking of the issue of biomethane export to Europe by the Ministries of Finance and Energy threatens the development of this market and harms the national interests of Ukraine, said Heorhiy Heletukha, chairman of the board of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine.

"I assure you that those five plants (scheduled to open in 2023) that think about the production of biomethane will change their mind about producing it if they are not allowed to export. But, unfortunately, this becomes a real threat," he said at a press conference of the Global 100% RE Ukraine platform on signing a cooperation agreement with German renewable energy associations at the Interfax-Ukraine agency.

He explained that in order to export biomethane, which, according to him, the first projects for the production of this renewable gas are currently working on, it is necessary to make several technical amendments to the regulatory framework, in particular, add the word "biomethane" to the mandate of the energy customs, and also provide for in the resolution on the ban on the export of natural gas the possibility of exporting biomethane.

"We turned to the government, we thought we would quickly solve everything, because these are technical things, but the first answer of the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance is as follows: we do not believe that the export of biomethane during the war is expedient, this affects the energy security of the country," he said.

At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that future biomethane production accounts for a too small share against the background of natural gas consumption to threaten energy security.

"Even if these five plants had already opened, they would have produced about 20 million cubic meters per year, and we consume 20 billion cubic meters. That is, we are talking about one tenth of a percent that we want to export," the expert said.

In his opinion, with this approach, if it does not change, "we will kill the industry that has not yet been born."

At the same time, he specified that the advantage of the European market over the Ukrainian one lies in its premium nature, which makes biomethane production projects profitable.