Naftogaz needs US$1 bln to have natural gas for next heating season – Kobolyev

CEO of National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine Andriy Kobolyev says the company needs to borrow US$1 billion to fulfill the plan for pumping natural gas into the country's underground gas storage facilities (USFs) for the 2019-2020 heating season.

Read alsoUkrainian gas stocks grow by 19.9%, to 10.49 bcm since April 5

"According to our estimates, we need at least 20 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to maintain the pressure in case of a full halt to [gas] transit supplies. Now, substantial amounts of gas are being injected into the storage facilities, approximately 60 million cubic meters per day. With such a pace, we can almost reach the goal. So, the pace needs to be further increased. To this end, Naftogaz needs additional funds. We need at least $1 billion in credit funds," he told Ukraine's ICTV channel on May 23.

The CEO noted several options to raise the required amount. In particular, the Cabinet can solve the problem by paying Naftogaz at least part of a UAH 140 billion debt before the company as compensation for the sale of gas to consumers under public service obligations (PSO).

Kobolyev also expressed the hope that Naftogaz would be able to revisit a new eurobonds issue soon.

As UNIAN reported earlier, by the start of the 2018-2019 heating season, Ukraine had accumulated 17.2 bcm of gas in its underground storage facilities, which was a record high natural gas stock over the past six years.

UNIAN memo. The current transit contract between Ukraine and Gazprom was signed in 2009 for a period of 10 years. Once it expires (from 2020), the Russian monopoly plans to minimize gas transit through the Ukrainian territory. The next round of the Ukraine-EU-Russia trilateral talks on gas transit after 2019 is scheduled for May 2019.