As of June 1, 2019, some 24 international companies had concluded contracts on storage of natural gas in Ukraine's underground storage facilities.
The state-owned operator of Ukraine's gas transportation system, Ukrtransgaz, says international companies have already pumped 515 mcm of natural gas into Ukraine's underground storage facilities using the "customs warehouse" service.
"As of the beginning of June, 24 international companies, non-residents of Ukraine, had concluded storage contracts and injected about 515 million cubic meters of gas into the Ukrainian underground storages facilities," the company's press service said in a statement on June 11.
Since the beginning of April, Ukrtransgaz has actively been offering the "customs warehouse" service to non-residents. Ukrtransgaz expects the same level of dynamic in June after the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission approves short-haul tariffs, it said. "In preparation for the winter season and uncertainty regarding the future transit [of Russian gas], the development of this direction is strategically important to Ukrtransgaz in terms of providing services to European companies that request storage of natural gas in large volumes," the press service said.
Today both resident and non-resident companies have the opportunity to store gas in Ukrainian territory for 1,095 days without paying customs duties only on condition it will be transported out of Ukraine. Rates on storage in the "customs warehouse" do not vary from the regular gas storage tariff in the USFs that is about EUR 0.6 per MW. As UNIAN reported early, Ukrtransgaz is the operator of Europe's largest underground gas storage facilities with a total volume of 31 bcm.
But in recent years, Ukrainian gas storage facilities have been loaded by less than 50%. The company offers its storage service to foreign traders, namely companies from Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Moldova. In June 2017, Ukrtransgaz announced the launch of the "customs warehouse" service at its 10 USFs. Some international traders, such as Trafigur and MND, have already used the service. (June 12, 2019)
UKRAINE - Natural Gas - Storage