Ukraine has started season of gas extraction from underground storage facilities
On 1 November 2024, Ukraine started the season of natural gas extraction from its underground storage facilities (UGS).
While on 30 and 31 October, gas stocks in storage facilities increased, albeit not by much, on 1 November they decreased by 0.05%, Interfax-Ukraine reports, citing data from the Association of European Underground Gas Storage Operators (GSE).
On 31 October, Oleksii Chernyshov, Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine, predicted that during the 2024/2025 heating season, gas withdrawals from storage facilities would remain at the level of the previous winter - about 6.7 bcm of gas.
"Naftogaz of Ukraine planned to accumulate 13.2bn cubic metres of gas in preparation for the current heating season. CEO Oleksii Chernyshov hoped that European companies would increase the volume of gas pumped into Ukrainian storage facilities despite Russian attacks that targeted gas infrastructure facilities in particular. However, these expectations were largely unfulfilled.
According to the industry publication ExPro, natural gas reserves in Ukraine's underground storage facilities stood at 12.8 billion cubic metres as of 15 October. No official information on gas reserves in storage facilities is currently published.
As a reminder, in November 2023, Ukraine entered the heating season with up to 16 bcm of gas reserves. In total, 8.5 bcm were withdrawn from Ukraine's underground storage facilities during the heating season, of which Ukraine used 6.7 bcm.
