Ukraine is ready to inject gas of European partners
With support of the Energy Community, there was held the Shippers' Meeting, which is an annual meeting of Ukrtransgaz and Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine with gas storage and transportation service customers.
Effective interaction and coordination between all market participants is a key component of efficient operation. During the event, the participants discussed capacities of Ukraine’s storages, gas transportation routes between UGS and the European borders, possible scenarios for future injection and withdrawal seasons, amendments to regulations and commercial indicators of gas storage attractiveness.
The meeting was attended by traders from all over Europe, representatives of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine and the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission.
“We are well aware of the companies' concerns about injecting gas into Ukrainian gas storages during a full-scale war, however, we have already taken significant measures to mitigate the war-associated risks, and the UGS themselves are located at a depth of up to 2 km and are protected by natural landscape. More than 80% of Ukraine's UGS capacities form the Eastern European cluster, which has a favorable geographical location bordering the EU”, - said Roman Maliutin, the Acting General Director of Ukrtransgaz - “Capacities of the cross-border interconnection points already allow millions of cubic meters of gas to be imported into Ukraine every day, and Ukrtransgaz continues to offer our customers an opportunity to store it at the customs warehouse for 1,095 days with no paying any taxes and customs duties”, - he added.
“The Ministry of Energy is highly interested in attracting European traders to the Ukrainian market. Despite the war, our market is functioning smoothly. Ukraine is a part of the European energy markets and offers natural gas storage services to our European partners”, - said Mykola Kolisnyk, Deputy Energy Minister.
“Even before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine managed to achieve a high level of development of the natural gas market and fulfill its commitments on implementation of Energy Community legislation. At the same time, despite all the consequences of the armed invasion and temporary measures to regulate the market in order to ensure its sustainability, third-party access to all types of gas infrastructure (gas transmission and gas distribution systems, gas storages) remains non-discriminatory and is secured in accordance with all principles of European legislation”, - said Tetiana Kryvonoh, Head of the NEURC Wholesale Natural Gas Market Regulation Unit of the Department for Regulation of Relations in the Oil and Gas Sector.
Ukraine offers European traders more than 10 bcm of working gas volume which is located in close proximity to its western border and a robust gas transmission system provides more than 100 transportation routes between the storages and European borders.
“Over the years, Ukraine's gas infrastructure has proven to be a robust part of the European market, fulfilment of obligations of which cannot be affected by energy crises or even military aggression. We have analyzed different routes of gas transportation between Ukraine’s storages and the European borders. The reliability of each route is guaranteed by many connections between the UGS and GTS, as well as the availability of at least 2 pipelines with each neighboring EU TSO”, - said Dmytro Lyppa, General Director of the GTSOU.
Currently, more than 1,000 companies use Ukraine’s underground storages to store gas in the customs warehouse regime. Companies have been already actively booking capacities at interstate interconnection points, given the fullness of underground storages in the EU. Ukrtransgaz has all necessary redundant capacities for injection and withdrawal even during peak periods.