Ukraine increases gas stocks in UGS facilities by 44%
Ukraine from April 4 through June 16, 2019 increased natural gas stocks in its underground storage facilities by 43.9% or 3.837 billion cubic meters (bcm), to 12.582 bcm, according to recent update from JSC Ukrtransgaz.
According to the calculations of the Interfax-Ukraine agency, the figure is 20.9% more than stocks on June 16, 2018 and 16.5% more than on June 16, 2017.
On June 1 through June 16, 2019, 1.193 bcm of gas was pumped into the underground storage facilities, which was 74.6 million cubic meters (mcm) daily on average compared with 52.6 mcm a day a year ago and 62.9 mcm a day in May 2019.
On June 16, 2019, 79.13 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas was pumped into the underground storage facilities and 58.4 mcm of gas was imported with domestic production of 56.4 mcm.
Earlier Chairman of Executive Board of Naftogaz Ukrainy Andriy Kobolev said that national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy is mulling a possibility of pumping an additional volume of gas to the underground gas storage facilities of Ukraine if Russia's Gazprom stops gas transit across the country after 2019. Ukraine plans to have around 20 bcm of gas in stocks at the beginning of the next heating season.
During the heating season started on November 7, 2018 and lasted until April 4, 2019 some 8.45 bcm of gas was pumped from the underground gas storage facilities. The stocks fell from 17.195 bcm to 8.745 bcm.
Ukrtransgaz, a wholly owned subsidiary of Naftogaz Ukrainy, operates Ukraine's gas transmission system and 12 underground gas storage facilities with 31 bcm of capacity.