Europe & Russia: Storage

Ukraine’s storage volumes are down by around 17% year on year – and the pace of rebuilds is failing to improve.

Ukraine has around 9.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas in storage, approximately 17% less than at the same time last year and 30% less than it had in mid-June 2014. The country’s gas stocks are increasing, but at a slow pace. Storage volumes have risen by less than 350 million cubic metres (MMcm) since the start of June 2016 compared with roughly 1.3 bcm during the same period in June 2015 – a drop of 73%. Naftogaz Ukrainy needs a new deal with Gazprom for direct supplies from Russia, but an agreement has yet to be reached. Although there is still time to rebuild storage volumes before winter, Ukraine will need additional and direct supplies from Russia to rebuild stocks during the injection season. Ukraine’s storage position is expected to become weaker over the coming weeks unless it signs a new supply deal soon.