May, 5, 2020, Kyiv – In January-April 2020, natural gas imports from the EU reached 3.9 billion cubic meters. This is 1.4 billion cubic meters, or 59%, more than in the same period last year. That is also 26% more than the average in 2016-2019.

During the four first months 2020 year, imports from Slovakia were about 2.4 billion cubic meters (+91% compared to the same period last year), from Hungary – 0.9 billion cubic meters (+26%), from Poland – 0.6 billion cubic meters (+28%). It should be noted that import volumes from Poland also include a virtual reverse, which became available for the first time since this year – 0.38 billion cubic meters.

Besides, according to the operational data by LLC “GTS Operator of Ukraine”, 1.131 billion cubic meters of natural gas were imported to Ukraine in April 2020. This is about quarter (by 255 million cubic meters) exceeding the import volumes in April 2019.

Such exceeding from EU countries is explained by growing demand for a new short-haul service, which Gas TSO of Ukraine has launched since 2020. In April, Ukraine received 264 million cubic meters of gas throughout short-haul (from Hungary – 64%, from Poland – 21%, from Slovakia – 15%). It should be noted, that traders sent all these volumes for storaging in Ukrainian UGS in the “customs warehouse” mode.

As of today, all imported volumes of natural gas come exclusively from EU countries. Since November 2015, Ukraine has not been importing gas from the Russian Federation.