By the time the next heating season rolls around, Ukraine plans to have pumped 10-11 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas into underground storage, head of the Ukrtransgaz department for scientific-technical operations and foreign economic relations Roman Shinko has said.
As of April 24, Ukrtransgaz had already pumped 430 million cubic meters (mcm) into underground storage, Shinko said.
"This will be gas of our own production and gas that we’ll be buying from Gazprom," he said.
Shinko noted that Ukraine plans to acquire gas on European spot markets.
"But at the beginning that might not be very much. For now it will be trial gas," he said.
Ukrtransgaz data show that in the 2011 pumping season it stored 10.6 bcm, which was 19% less than in 2010. Considering remnant active gas from previous periods, at the start of the 2011-2012 season for taking natural gas the company had in underground storage 20.6 bcm of sellable gas. During the 2011-2012 heating season, the company removed 13.7 bcm from its own underground storage facilities.
Sources at Ukrtransgaz said that during the period gas was being taken from storage all orders from importing countries were met in full measure and according to schedule.
