Ukraine boosted its natural gas stocks in underground storage facilities (USFs) by 11.552 billion cubic meters, bcm), to 20.298 bcm from April 4 to September 28, 2019, according to JSC Ukrtransgaz.

Interfax-Ukraine's estimates show that this volume exceeds the inventory indicator as of September 28, 2018 by 25.9% and that as of September 28, 2017 by 24.4%.

Some 2.043 bcm was pumped into the country's storage facilities on September 1-28, which was 73 million cubic meters (mcm) per day on the average. The average daily amount in August was 77.5 mcm, it was 74.4 mcm in July, 71.9 mcm in June, and 62.9 mcm in May.

Some 63.7 mcm of natural gas was pumped into the country's USFs on September 28, 2019, alone, while gas import totaled 67.5 mcm and domestic production was 55.2 mcm.

Earlier, CEO of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Andriy Kobolev said that the company planned to pump additional volumes of natural gas into the Ukrainian underground storage facilities in the event that Russia's Gazprom ceases gas transit through the country in 2020. Ukraine planned to enter the next heating season with about 20 bcm of natural gas in reserves, but currently, if gas stock replenishments continue at the current level, they will exceed 21 bcm.

As was reported, during the heating season from November 6, 2018, to April 4, 2019, Ukraine's gas stocks in the USFs shrank by 8.450 bcm (from 17.195 bcm to 8.745 bcm).

Ukrtransgaz, fully owned by Naftogaz Ukrainy, operates a system of gas pipelines and 12 underground gas storages in the country. Their total capacity is 31 bcm.