MOSCOW, July 2 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine has enough gas in its underground storage facilities to last until November, or, given sparing consumption, until the end of the year, the deputy head of Ukraine’s Naftogaz Alexander Todiichuk said Wednesday.
“How long we can last using this gas will depend on how we consume it. Today we are analyzing several scenarios of consumption: the standard operation, and the cutoff of Russian gas deliveries. Of course, in the second case, consumption will have to be much more sparing,” Todiichuk told the Russian newspaper Kommersant in an interview.
The Naftogaz deputy also noted that gas consumption depends on industrial activity in eastern Ukraine. According to Todiichuk, many companies have suspended their operations, and some have been partially destroyed, and Naftogaz is unsure whether the shutdown of the plants will lead to a decrease in gas consumption.
Todiichuk believes that the gas currently stored underground in Ukraine will suffice until November this year.
“But assuming maximum savings mode, [the gas may last] until the end of the year. That is why the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers has discussed the possibility of a state of emergency in the energy sector. However, a state of emergency in the energy sector will add nothing new to the picture. Right now, we also have the ability to disconnect insolvent consumers,” the deputy head explained.
On June 16, Russia’s energy giant Gazprom was forced to switch to a prepayment system for its gas deliveries to Ukraine after talks on Kiev’s debt repayment and price revisions mediated by EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger failed.
While the transit is currently continuing according to contractual terms, both Gazprom and the European Commission anticipate problems in winter, when Ukraine runs out of gas reserves.
Alexei Miller, Gazprom’s CEO, speculated last week that it is extremely likely Ukraine will begin illegally siphoning off Europe-bound gas in the fall.
