Gas crisis: Ukrainian gas stocks shrink to 9.642 bcm within week

Natural gas stocks in Ukraine's underground storage facilities (USFs) on February 24-March 3 shrank by 7.5%, or 783 million cubic meters (mcm), from 10.425 billion cubic meters (bcm) to 9.642 bcm.

In particular, 112.62 mcm of gas was withdrawn from storage facilities on March 3 alone, the state-run gas transport system operator Ukrtransgaz said.

Read alsoPoroshenko says situation with gas supply in Ukraine stable (Video)As UNIAN reported earlier, Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom has lost a lawsuit with NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine in the Stockholm Arbitration, which ruled Gazprom to pay $2.56 billion to the Ukrainian company. At first, Gazprom agreed to supply 0.5 bcm of gas to Ukraine in March at prices determined by the arbitration. However, it suddenly refused to fulfill its contractual obligations and reduced the gas pressure at the entry point to Ukraine's GTS on the eastern border to critical 50.6 kgf/sq. cm.

Naftogaz says Gazprom's failure to fulfill the court's decision has led to the gas deficit in the GTS. To overcome the crisis, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine imposed restrictions on domestic gas consumption, while Naftogaz went for an emergency purchase of 60 mcm of gas from Poland's PGNiG.

Read alsoPoland to help out Ukraine amid Gazprom's energy demarcheUkraine 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.

On October 26, 2017, 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).