Ukraine continues to inject gas into storage facilities after start of heating season

Starting Friday, October 31, Ukraine has continued to inject small volumes of natural gas into its underground gas storage facilities (UGS), according to data from the European platform Aggregated Gas Storage Inventory (AGSI).

As reported earlier, citing former Energy Minister Olha Buslavets, this became possible thanks to the available volumes of imported gas, particularly the resumption of imports from Poland beginning October 23 after the completion of scheduled maintenance by the Polish gas transmission operator Gaz-System.

Late last week, the former minister predicted that due to imports, Ukraine would be able to delay active withdrawals from storage for another 7–10 days.

According to AGSI data, the total level of natural gas in Ukraine's storage facilities now exceeds the government's target of 8.5 billion cubic meters, excluding long-term stored (technological) gas.

According to the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU), total gas imports as of November 4 are projected at 23.6 million cubic meters, including 9.8 million cubic meters from Hungary, 8.2 million from Poland, 4.8 million from Slovakia, and 0.8 million from Romania.

Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO Serhiy Koretsky said on October 29 that to ensure stable passage through the 2025/2026 heating season, Ukraine needs an additional 4 billion cubic meters of imported gas. He added that the country requires $1.9 billion to finance these imports, a significant portion of which has already been secured.

Meanwhile, Naftogaz Supervisory Board Deputy Chair Nataliya Boyko noted that due to Russian attacks, Ukraine may fall short of roughly one-third of its planned gas production by the end of the year.