Ukraine's underground storage catches up with injections

Injections into Ukraine’s underground storage were exceeding 80m m³/d as PE went to press – good news for its western counterparts who depend on the reliable transit of Russian gas through Ukraine

By 17 October, state operator Ukrtransgaz had about 16.2bn cm stored and, taking into account the faster rate of injection, the plan to stockpile 17-18bn cm by the end of the month was looking feasible even though the heating season had already started. In theory Ukraine could therefore have enough gas to go through the withdrawal season without incident – last October Naftogaz started lifting the gas from store with just 16.5bn cm put away. But last winter was abnormally warm, which is an important factor. As the heating season has started, domestic demand is already at 90m cm/day, Naftogaz chairman Andriy Kobolev said on 15 October, so its ability to inject more gas is limited. It is recei