Ukraine continues gas injection into storage ahead of heating season

Between October 27 and 29, Ukraine continued injecting small volumes of natural gas into underground gas storage (UGS) facilities ahead of the start of the active heating season, according to data from the European Aggregated Gas Storage Inventory (AGSI) platform.

However, by October 30, the gas injection/withdrawal balance in Ukrainian storage facilities had already fallen to zero.

As reported earlier, citing former Energy Minister Olha Buslavets, gas imports from Poland resumed on October 23 amid temporary warming, allowing Ukraine to delay active gas withdrawals from storage by another 7–10 days.

According to her, reduced production due to Russian strikes on gas infrastructure and increased consumption following the partial activation of heating in social institutions caused gas injection rates to slow to nearly zero cubic meters per day by the end of last week. In addition, gas injection was temporarily halted from October 20 to 25 for scheduled maintenance by Poland's gas transmission system operator Gaz-System.

However, according to data from the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU), imports from Poland began recovering earlier than expected, reaching 5.6 mcm/day on October 23, 6.0 mcm/day on October 24, and 9.9 mcm/day on October 25.

As AGSI data show, Ukraine temporarily suspended gas injection on October 22 and began withdrawals, but by October 23, the balance returned to zero, and by October 24, injection resumed slightly, turning positive again.

According to GTSOU, total gas imports to Ukraine on October 30–31 amounted to 24.5–25.2 million cubic meters per day, supplied from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and small volumes from Moldova/Romania.

AGSI data indicate that Ukraine's gas reserves in storage now exceed 8.5 billion cubic meters, excluding long-term (technical) storage gas.

Nataliya Boyko, Deputy Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Naftogaz Group, noted that Ukraine may fall short of about one-third of its planned natural gas production for the year due to Russian attacks.

Meanwhile, Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO Serhiy Koretsky said on October 29 that the country will require just over 4 bcm of additional gas imports to ensure a stable 2025–2026 heating season. He added that Ukraine also needs an additional $1.9 billion in import financing, a significant portion of which has already been secured.