Ukraine wants to abandon gas imports this year – Naftogaz
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Oleksiy Chernyshov, head of Naftogaz, aims to avoid gas imports this year thanks to domestic production.
Chernyshov told about this in an interview Bloomberg.
Such a plan requires Naftogaz to increase production by 8%, and private companies – by 16% this year, despite the ban on fuel exports. The plan also does not envisage any territorial losses or destruction of gas production facilities, which could pose a risk to gas autonomy.
The attempt to avoid gas imports, if successful, would be the first such attempt in the country’s history since independence in 1991.
At the end of last year, the International Monetary Fund estimated that in 2023, Ukraine will need to buy 5 billion cubic meters of gas – Naftogaz expects the same amount under the worst-case scenario, Chernyshov noted.
In recent months, the company imported less gas than planned to help generate electricity after Russian airstrikes on the power system.
According to Chernyshov, since the end of October, the company has bought about half of the 2 billion cubic meters of fuel it planned to buy, thanks to the efforts of gas production companies aimed at maintaining production volumes, and the discipline of households.
The situation this winter has affected Naftogaz’s plan to avoid gas imports, although there is a possibility that it will still have to purchase 2 billion cubic meters of gas, he added. “But that’s not our main plan. We have to rely on ourselves.”
Chernyshov also talked about debts to Naftogaz. Thus, the government froze tariffs for utility services for the population, but promised to compensate Naftogaz for the difference between imported gas and domestic prices. According to the head of the company, the government has not yet done this, and now the debt to Naftogaz reaches UAH 177 billion, while municipalities and gas distribution companies owe UAH 112 billion.
We remind you:
JSC “Naftogaz of Ukraine” evaluates its own losses over $1 billion due to damaged or destroyed infrastructure.
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