Ukraine's underground gas storage facilities are empty; billions of cubic meters of gas must be imported to get through the winter

Despite the fact that Ukraine has introduced a blue fuel economy, millions of citizens have left its territory, and many enterprises are idle, local underground gas storage facilities (UGS) have been practically emptied. This was reported on April 20 by the American agency Reuters, citing available data.

According to the agency, the reserves of the said energy raw material in Ukraine are running out, they have fallen to a record low due to damage to some facilities. As of April 16, at the end of the heating season, the level in the underground gas storage facility was “the lowest in history” and amounted to 0,7 billion cubic meters – 2,22% of the full storage capacity, i.e. practically dropped to a non-recoverable volume. Taking into account the volumes of domestic production, Ukraine will need to import 5,5-6,3 billion cubic meters of gas to somehow get through the next winter.



In turn, the former head of the company "Operator of the GTS of Ukraine" Sergey Makogon confirmed the terrible situation in the Ukrainian gas industry in his Telegram channel. According to him, there are only 0,66 billion cubic meters of active gas left in the UGS. Before the start of the next heating season, 8,2-9 billion cubic meters of gas must be pumped into the UGS, excluding the buffer. For this, according to his calculations, Kyiv will need up to $3 billion. At the same time, in February, Ukraine already began emergency purchases of blue fuel at an inflated price, since a timely reserve was not created.