The head of the board of the Naftogaz of Ukraine national joint-stock company Yurii Vitrenko considers unlikely the accumulation of 19 billion cubic meters of gas in underground storages (UGS) before the beginning of the heating season.
He told about this in an interview with the publication NV, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"Honestly, it is unrealistic to pump in a total of 19 billion cubic meters before the heating season... Because of the huge price and a lot of money that is needed to finance such imports. And there are already technological restrictions on how much gas can be imported per day and how much can be pumped in. Theoretical there is an opportunity, but there is no practical one. On the other hand, it is important to understand - and there is such an understanding at the government level - that, firstly, we were talking about a crisis scenario; secondly, it is not so important to provide 19 billion cubic meters of gas precisely in storage before beginning of the heating season, it is important that these additional 4-6 billion cubic meters of gas are available in the heating season," he said.
According to Vitrenko, there are currently 12.3 billion cubic meters of gas in UGS.
"From a technical point of view, we, gas workers, understand that having a lot of gas in storage is not a panacea, because there is a limited capacity to lift gas from storage. For us, it is better if the gas goes through the pipe in winter - it is much more efficient. To put it simply, to cover the deficit, it is necessary to create a gas reserve twice as much in the storages as is additionally needed in the heating season at the top, precisely because of the limitation on the rise," Vitrenko noted.
As Ukrainian News Agency reported, earlier the Cabinet of Ministers instructed the Naftogaz of Ukraine national joint-stock company to ensure the accumulation of 19 billion cubic meters of gas in UGS before the start of the heating season.
As of April 9, gas reserves in underground storages decreased by 41.8% or 6.4 billion cubic meters to 9.1 billion cubic meters compared to data for the same date last year (15.58 billion cubic meters).
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