Ukraine Eyes Swift End to Gas Imports

Ukraine hopes to be able to abandon gas imports within five years, a vice prime minister claimed April 9.

Vice prime minister minister of regional development and utilities Hennadiy Zubko said lowered consumption matched with raised domestic production could allow Ukraine to rely on its own sources of gas, according to Ukrinform.

Gas imports dropped by 24.8% to 10.6bn m3 in 2018 from 14.1bn m3 the previous year. National utility Naftogaz says that was mainly due to higher use of stored gas.

Consumption rose by 0.4bn m3 over the same period to total 32.3bn m3. Ukrainian gas production rose by 0.5m3 in 2018, to 21bn m3.

Ukraine abandoned its traditional gas supplier Russia in November 2015 due to ongoing political and military tension. Imports last year came from several different European suppliers, with the gas piped via reversed pipelines in Central Europe.

"According to our estimates, Ukraine will be able to abandon the purchase of imported gas in five years due to decrease in consumption and increase in own gas production,” Zubko said. “I advocate reducing gas consumption because it is much cheaper, faster and more efficient. It also enables to reduce the tariff burden on the population, increase the quality of life and competitive products, which should have lower energy intensity," he added.

The minister also suggested Ukraine should particularly concentrate on reducing consumption. "It's better to invest in energy efficiency than gas production, but this direction also needs to be further developed," he said.