Ukraine starts pumping gas into underground storage

18:29, 02.03.2015 1 min read

Ukraine has started pumping gas into underground storage facilities on February 27, gas transmission system operator Ukrtransgaz said.

The country pumped 16.25 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas underground on February 27 and withdrew 610,000 cubic meters. It pumped 27.34 mcm underground on February 28 and withdrew 20,000 cubic meters. In other words, gas stocks grew by 42.96 mcm in the last two days of winter.

Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO Andr iy Kobolev said on Friday that Ukraine intended to start pumping gas into underground storage facilities, indicating that the country has got through the 2014/2015 winter season successfully.

"We start pumping gas underground today, although we usually do this at the beginning of April," he said.

Ukraine is able to do this thanks to current consumption levels and the availability of sufficient gas volumes in trunk pipelines, he said.

Ukraine started to withdraw less gas from underground storage as mild weather set in at the end of February.