Natural gas imports into Ukraine hit five-year high

Natural gas imports into Ukraine from January 1 to July 16, 2020, grew by 25% year-over-year (y-o-y), to 8.056 billion cubic meters (bcm), having hit a five-year high.

In particular, 1.043 bcm of gas was imported from Poland, while 4.605 bcm and 2.408 bcm arrived from Slovakia and Hungary, respectively, LLC Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) said on July 16.

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Some 54% of all imported gas was handled via a virtual reverse flow, which first became available early this year.

Since January 2020, some 56%, or 4.5 bcm of imported gas, has been pumped into Ukraine's underground storage facilities (USFs) for storing in the "customs warehouse" mode. Of it, gas delivered as short-haul shipments accounted for 36% of the said volume.

"The growth in the imports is associated with a significant increase in European companies' demand for storage of gas in Ukraine's USFs in the 'customs warehouse' mode. Due to the fullness of European storage facilities and Ukraine's attractive tariffs and services, the country this year is hitting an all-time record for gas injection into its USFs and is taking an important step towards becoming a European gas hub," the reports said.

Over the period under review, the country imported gas from European Union countries alone, as Ukraine has not bought gas from Russia since November 2015.

In January-June 2020, Ukraine boosted natural gas imports by 24%, to 7 bcm y-o-y.

Ukraine in 2019 increased natural gas imports by 34.4%, or by 3.65 bcm, up to 14.25 bcm.

The country in 2018 reduced natural gas imports by 24.6% from 2017, to 10.59 bcm.