The SSO of Ukraine offers its UGSs for storage EU countries' strategic gas reserves

Ukrtransgaz as the Storage System Operator of Ukraine is ready to offer its underground storage facilities for storage of EU countries' strategic gas reserves. This was announced on Wednesday, October 20, during the Ukrainian Gas Investment Congress by the head of the company Serhiy Pereloma.

As Serhiy Pereloma noted during the discussion, due to the critical situation in the European energy market in 2021, the EU leadership has returned to the issue of strategic gas reserves, which would minimize threats to the energy security of the European continent countries given the gas supplies shortage or sharp price fluctuations, as has been the case in recent months The European Commission has already begun to study this topic and search for potential sites for long-term storage of "strategic" gas.

According to Serhiy Pereloma, Ukrainian underground storage facilities are ready to take over the function of storing strategic gas reserves of EU countries. The largest volumes in Europe and available free capacities of Ukrainian UGSs open wide opportunities for long-term storage of this kind of reserves.

“Ukraine has something to offer to its European partners. Undoubtedly, for this purpose, it is necessary to include Ukrainian underground storage facilities in the list of sites where such strategic stock can be stored and to establish infrastructure for the unimpeded transport of gas between European countries, in particular between Ukraine, Poland, and Hungary. In this matter, we count, first of all, on the support of European colleagues, in particular, our partners from the Energy Community. Such a partnership will be reliable and undoubtedly mutually beneficial, both for Ukraine and for the EU countries”, - noted Sergiy Pereloma, acting general director of Ukrtransgaz JSC. 

The total volume of the Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities reaches 31 bcm and is the largest among European countries. The Operator annually uses about 60% of UGS capacity to meet the needs of domestic consumers in Ukraine, thus leaving about 40% for gas storage for non-resident companies that have been actively using the services of Ukrainian storage facilities for the past two years. These capacities can be used, inter alia, to store EU gas strategic reserves.