Ukraine to raise gas imports to meet winter demand

By BBC Monitoring

Yuriy Vitrenko, CEO of the Ukrainian state oil and gas company Naftohaz Ukrayiny, has said that a total of 5.8bn cu.m. of gas needs to be imported to meet the government-set target of the 19bn cu.m. in stock ahead of the winter season, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency has reported.

Vitrenko also said that the gas reserves of 15bn cu.m. would be sufficient for the next winter, while buying an additional amount to meet the 19bn cu.m. target would require an additional financing of $8bn. "We talk to international partners on how they can support us with this money or this gas," Vitrenko said.

Naftohaz Ukrayiny also discusses supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Ukraine in the last quarter of 2022, Vitrenko told journalists. "Here we have some technical restrictions as Ukraine has never physically imported LNG before. We understand that we do not have LNG terminals. We have to deliver LNG to terminals in Europe and then ensure physical transportation of this gas to Ukraine via pipelines or go for gas swap operations," Vitrenko said.

Vitrenko also said that Naftohaz Ukrayiny intends to file a lawsuit against Russia's Gazprom over a reduction of gas transit through Ukraine below the contracted amounts. The deadline for an amicable settlement of dispute expires next month, and if nothing happens and Gazprom does not change its position, Naftohaz Ukrayiny will be eligible to apply to an international court of appeals, Interfax quoted Vitrenko as saying.

Source: Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kyiv, in Russian 1301 gmt 21 Jun 22