November 06, 2020, Kyiv – Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) has transported 6.1 billion cubic meters of gas from EU countries to Ukraine in the shorthaul mode during10 months of 2020. Almost all of this volume is currently being stored in the underground gas storage facilities (JSC Ukrtransgaz), and the volume of 0.015 billion cubic meters has been re-exported back to the EU countries according to the orders of the owners of this gas.

“Following the change of seasons, traders have started the first withdrawals of their gas from the storage facilities and its re-export back to the EU countries. Besides, I’d like to point out that during the last decade of October the flow from Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities to Hungary had increased, when interconnection point Mosonmagyaróvár on the Hungarian-Austrian border was under repair. Ukrainian GTS and new convenient services – shorthaul and customs warehousing – allow operators of adjacent GTS to cover not only commercial demand,  but also situations involving risks of interruptions in natural gas supplies,” – commented Ievgen Todorov, Commercial Director of GTSOU.

In particular, during 10 months of 2020 gas transportation volumes at the entry point to Ukraine from Slovakia amounted to 4.1 billion cubic meters in shorthaul mode, in particular from Hungary – 1.5 billion cubic meters, from Poland – 0.5 billion cubic meters. 24 non-resident clients and 5 Ukrainian companies have used the shorthaul transportation service since its launch.

Almost all of the shorthaul volumes were routed by traders to the underground gas storage facilities for storage in the “customs warehouse” regime. Since the beginning of the year, GTSOU, in accordance with customer orders, has sent 10.1 billion cubic meters of gas to the UGS Operator for storage in the “customs warehouse” regime (including shorthaul volumes).

At the same time, during the same period, the exit shorthaul volume of gas from Ukraine has reached 17.1 million cubic meters: to Slovakia – 2 thousand cubic meters, to Hungary – 13.7 million cubic meters, to Poland – 3.4 million cubic meters.

Note, that service of shorthaul, which was introduced by the GTS Operator of Ukraine on January 1, 2020, allows the company’s customers to order gas transportation between Eastern European countries through the territory of Ukraine at a special favorable tariff. And also in combination with the service “customs warehouse” from Gas Storage Operator (JSC Ukrtransgaz), foreign and domestic customers are offered convenient and attractive conditions for storing gas in Ukrainian UGS facilities.