Ukraine boosts gas withdrawal from its USFs due to cold snap

Ukrainian energy and coal industry minister's advisor Maksym Beliavsky says because of the cold snap on February 24-25, Ukraine has increased gas withdrawal from its underground storage facilities (USFs) to 101 million cubic meters (mcm) per day, the maximum level for the entire 2017-2018 heating season.

Read alsoRussia stealing Ukraine's gas: over 3.5 bcm illegally extracted from gas field in Crimea"Ukraine, because of the temperature drop, has increased the pumping gas from the underground storage facilities by 7%... The demand is covered by the withdrawal of gas from the USFs in the capacity of 101 mcm [per day], that is the largest volume of daily withdrawal in the current heating season," he said on Sunday, February 25.

Gas is also imported from Europe (16 mcm per day) and produced by Ukrainian companies (57 mcm per day), the official added.

"As of this morning, daily gas consumption has increased in Ukraine to 170 mcm. Some 10.4 billion cubic meters of gas remain in the USFs," Beliavsky said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on 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).