Ukrainian gas stocks shrink to over 11 bcm within week

Natural gas stocks in Ukraine's underground storage facilities (USFs) on February 10-17 shrank by 5.2%, or 611 million cubic meters (mcm), from 11.681 billion cubic meters (bcm) to 11.070 bcm.

In particular, 91.27 mcm of gas was withdrawn from the storage facilities on February 17 alone, the state-run gas transport system operator Ukrtransgaz said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, CEO of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine Andriy Kobolyev forecast Ukraine would finish the 2017-2018 heating season with about 8 bcm – 9 bcm of gas in the country's USFs.

Ukraine started the year off with 14.7 bcm of gas in its USFs, which was the largest gas stock as of the beginning of the year over the past five years.

Read alsoRussia to stop gas production on seized Black Sea shelf in Crimea – mediaOn October 26, Ukraine stopped injecting gas into underground storage facilities and began pumping it out to ensure the smooth heating season.

Ukraine had accumulated 16.8 bcm of gas in the underground storage facilities by the beginning of the 2017-2018 heating season (October 15).