REUTERS
Surplus gas, which was injected into USFs last autumn in preparation for talks with Russia's Gazprom, will be used next winter.
CEO of National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine Andriy Kobolyev says the company has temporarily halted gas imports to Ukraine due to record high gas reserves in underground storage facilities (USFs), while expecting further reduction in gas prices on the European market.
"Now we have record high volumes in gas storage facilities. They are drastically larger than those we had in the previous season, that is, by more than 4 billion cubic meters. At this point, we, as Naftogaz, aren't importing gas. It is being imported mainly by private traders," the company's press service has quoted Kobolyev as saying.
According to the CEO, the April price of gas for Ukrainian households dropped by 15%. In total, the price has plummeted by 38% since January 2020. Moreover, it will further continue sliding.
Read alsoNaftogaz announces 15% decline in gas prices for households in April
"We expect that the price of gas will also be declining in the following months. It is difficult to predict how much, as now the market is surprising many analysts, as well as us. We have recently seen a negative oil price in the United States. It was a short episode, but it took place, and it is unprecedented event. Therefore, we expect that the May price of gas on European markets will be slightly lower," he said.
Kobolyev added that surplus gas, which was injected into USFs last autumn in preparation for talks with Russia's Gazprom, would be used the following winter.
"We were preparing for a potential gas crisis. Therefore, we accumulated additional gas as a reserve. At the beginning of the [heating] season we had over 21 billion cubic meters of gas in stock," he said.
As UNIAN reported, Naftogaz earlier said the April wholesale gas price for households, heat producers and other consumers receiving gas under the terms of public service obligations would be UAH 2,900, or US$107.85, per 1,000 cubic meters (VAT, retail margin, transmission and distribution costs are not included), which is 15% down from that of March 2020.