Ukrtransgaz Prepared for Heating Season
Ukrainian state-run pipeline operator Ukrtransgaz has said that it is prepared for the colder months ahead with 15.7 billion cubic metres of gas currently in underground storage.
In a statement released today, the company said that it was prepared for the 2012/2013 heating season in Ukraine and had injected an additional 8.8 billion cubic metres of gas into the underground storage as of August 20th.
The company said today that it was carrying out essential works to ready itself for colder weather ahead of schedule and said that it expected to finish these preparation works by early October. This, it said, "will ensure preparation of Ukraine’s gas transportation system for uninterrupted natural gas supply to Ukrainian consumers, as well as to importing countries."
The preparation comes a month after main supplier Gazprom said that Ukraine must be transparent in its injection of gas to the underground storage system in light of a loan made to Ukraine to prepare it for increased use in colder months.
The statement came after talks between Ukrainian gas supplier Naftogaz Ukrainy and Gazprom, during which the companies discussed the provisions of the $2 billion loan made to Ukraine. In February this year, tensions between Gazprom and Ukraine escalated with accusations made that Ukraine had siphoned gas meant for other countries during a particularly cold snap of weather.
Ukraine has repeatedly denied the allegations against it saying it did not offtake any gas that was not intended and agreed for Ukrainian use.