Ukraine stops injecting gas into USFs, starts pumping it out for heating season

National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine says it has stopped injecting gas into the underground storage facilities, having switching to pumping it out to cover the needs of the 2020-2021 heating season.

"Indian summer is still ongoing in Ukraine, while the heating season has already begun. Therefore, gas storage facilities have been alternately completing the required preparatory works amid the neutral period and switching to the mode of pumping natural gas out of the USFs," the company's press service wrote on Facebook on October 28.

In the first week of the hearing season, a mere of 9-17 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas was pumped out of the facilities daily. However, the lower the temperature outside, the higher volumes of gas withdrawn.

Read alsoGas stocks shrink by 0.1% to 28.38 bcm as heating season starts"Today, gas is being pumped out from three storage facilities, namely Mrynske USF, Bohorodchanske USF, and Kehychivske USF," the press service added.

Background

Natural gas stocks in Ukraine's USFs shrank by 0.1%, to 28.38 billion cubic meters (bcm) within a week, October 17-24.

Ukraine started pumping natural gas into its USFs on March 11 as the country's reserves stood 15.808 bcm.

By the start of the 2019-2020 heating season, Ukraine had accumulated 21.76 bcm of gas, which was a record high over the past decade.

UNIAN memo

• Twelve underground gas storages with a total storage capacity of about 31 bcm are being operated in Ukraine.
• In the past decade, Ukraine uses only 50-60% of its storage capacity.
• The five largest Ukrainian underground storage facilities are located in the country's west, some 160 km off Hungary border.