Energy customs formalizes first declaration for biomethane export
Energy Customs has issued a customs declaration for the export of the first batch of biomethane to Europe by pipeline, the agency reported.
"A historic event for the Ukrainian energy industry! On February 6, Energy Customs successfully completed the registration of a periodic customs declaration for the movement of the first batch of biomethane across the customs border of Ukraine for export to Europe by pipeline," it said on Facebook on Friday.
They noted that work for this purpose had been carried out for two years with the participation of MPs, representatives of the Ministry of Finance, the State Customs Service of Ukraine, the Energy Customs, operators of the gas transportation system of Ukraine and gas storage facilities, the expert community, civil society and biomethane producers to amend the legislation of Ukraine (in particular, lifting the ban on the export of biomethane, since the export of natural gas is prohibited) and other export issues.
As noted by bioenergy market participants in a conversation with a correspondent of Energy Reform, the first batch of biomethane is exported by the agroholding Vitagro, whose plant with a capacity of 3 million cubic meters of biomethane per year operates in Khmelnytsky region.
Biomethane is also supplied to the grid by Gals Agro (a plant with a capacity of 3 million cubic meters per year in Chernihiv region, the first to connect to the grid), and since the beginning of 2025 - by the Oril-Leader division of MHP in Dnipropetrovsk region (11 million cubic meters per year).
Earlier, Head of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine Heorhiy Heletukha noted that by the end of 2024, the first million cubic meters of biomethane were in the underground gas storage facility, and its export will most likely begin in February 2025.
In an interview with Energy Reform, the head of the renewable energy department of the agroholding Gals Agro, Oleh Riabov, predicted that "the first transaction will be by the end of February, possibly in the second or third ten-day period of the month." Similar forecasts were made in a conversation with Energy Reform at the end of January by the head of Vitagro, Serhiy Savchuk.
Heletukha has repeatedly called the export of biomethane a win-win story for Ukraine.