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Slovakia is a key importer of natural gas to Ukraine.
National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine in 2018 reduced gas imports from European markets by 19.5% against 2017 to 7 billion cubic meters (bcm).
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"[Gas] imports were reduced by both key importers: Naftogaz [saw a reduction] from 8.7 bcm to 7 bcm (by 19.5%) and private companies from 5.4 bcm to 3.6 bcm (by 33.3%)," the company's press service said in a statement on January 28.
The number of European suppliers in 2018 was 18 (against 13 companies in 2017). However, none of them supplied more than 30% of the imported gas, the report said.
Major exporters were Slovakia, which shipped more than 5.7 bcm of gas (81%), Hungary supplied 1.1 bcm (15.7%), and Poland 0.2 bcm (2.8%), the press service added.
It is noted that for the fourth year in a row, Naftogaz has not purchased gas from the Russian energy monopoly Gazprom, which refuses to comply with the Stockholm Arbitration's award related to gas volumes and delivery terms.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine in 2018 reduced natural gas imports by 24.6%, or 3.46 bcm, from 2017, to 10.59 bcm.
UNIAN memo. NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine is the largest state-run vertically integrated oil and gas holding whose subsidiaries account for about 90% of oil and gas production in Ukraine. Naftogaz develops oil and gas fields, produces crude oil and natural gas. Its core business is also transportation and trade in fuel through its own network of filling stations.