Ukraine Ends Winter with 30-yr High Storage
Ukraine ended winter with 15.8bn Russian m³ in storage, a record for 30 years, the operator Naftogaz Ukrainy said April 10. Shippers withdrew 5.98bn m³ over the winter, which began with record stocks as there were fears last summer that Russian gas flows would be interrupted on January 1. Some of the capacity had been sold to third parties.
The second largest volume of 15.4bn m³ was recorded in the heating season 2008-2009.
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Weather conditions made it possible to end gas withdrawal and begin the injection season in March. In 2019, gas injection began in April.
“We accumulated a significant amount of gas in our UGS facilities in preparation for possible interruption of gas transit in 2020. This strengthened Ukraine's position when negotiating a new transit contract and helped ensure beneficial conditions for Ukraine. Now the large stock of gas in our storages will help Naftogaz navigate through the current volatile period,” commented Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev.
Gas is now very cheap at the hubs, although the value of storage depends on how much more expensive gas will be the following winter.