European gas traders meet Ukraine’s transmission and storage operators

The Energy Community Secretariat successfully hosted a second gas shippers meeting. The event, held in collaboration with network operators of the transmission system (GTSOU) and the storage system, Ukrtransgaz, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, and the National Energy Regulator, shed light on the gas storage opportunities in Ukraine available for European traders in the upcoming 2024/2025 winter season.

The meeting took place after a violent attack by Russian aggressors on energy facilities in Ukraine, including the storage system. The participants welcomed the minimal effect it had on the resilience of its system to deliver services.

Director Artur Lorkowski condemned the military attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. “- The storage system of Ukraine, in spite of the recent attacks, demonstrated its resilience. The Secretariat invites Ukraine to further explore and implement risk mitigation measures to allow a more substantial usage of the storages by European traders in the next winter season”. – he added.

Ukrtransgaz presented its efforts to broaden the storage products and storage services and shape them as shippers-friendly, in a bid to increase the volumes of gas stored in Ukraine. The Secretariat recently published a positive assessment note on the draft amendments to the Storage code.

Furthermore, Ukraine, together with the Energy Community and other international partners is performing a technical-based stress test, exploring extreme scenarios for risks of foreign traders’ gas evacuation in the next season. The preliminary results initially show the technical resilience of the transmission and storage system to inject and withdraw cca 5bcm of EU traders' gas in the next winter season.

Shippers welcomed the Secretariat’s invitation to return to a competitive market in Ukraine and agreed on all actions identified in the Secretariat’s high-level assessment of the need for gas market reforms. Addressing risk insurance, the abolishment of the gas export ban, ensuring more transparency, implementing energy units, and addressing rising costs of shipping gas from the west and south to Ukraine’s storages were among the main shippers’ messages.