Ukraine increases gas import from Hungary to 9bn

Ukraine increased gas import from Hungary from 6.1 million cubic metres to 9 million cubic metres per day from Thursday, August 15, Ukrainian mass media reported quoting Hungary’s gas operator FGSZ Ltd. as saying. The announced amount of gas import is 9.027 million cubic metres, while it was 6.1 million cubic metres in July. The company Ukrtransgaz said earlier that the throughput capacity of the pipeline from Hungary could be increased to 12 million cubic metres a day. In 2013, Hungary has supplied about 310.5 million cubic metres of gas to Ukraine. In the first two weeks of August, Ukrtransgaz took measures to increase the capacity of the pipeline from Hungary. Ukraine has lately been actively exploring the possibility of reverse supplies from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania. In November 2013, Naftogaz Ukrainy started buying gas form German RWE and supplied by reverse mode from Poland. Ukraine has been consistently seeking to reduce the import of Russian natural gas due to its high price. In the first six months of this year, Ukraine bought less than 10 bcm of gas from Russia’s Gazprom, a decrease of 40 percent from the previous year. In 2012, Ukraine reduced the import of Russian gas by 26.5 percent from 2011 to 32.939 bcm. Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Eduard Stavitsky said earlier that Kiev had “already made progress” in reducing its dependence on Russian natural gas and will “launch a second line for diversification of supplies” shortly. According to the minister, the price of natural gas in Europe starts “from 350 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic metres. Leading European traders’ projections range within 250-280 U.S. dollars in the second half of the year,” he said. “This is why we hope to lower the average annual price of gas per 1,000 cubic metres,” he added. The European Union has promised assistance to Ukraine in diversifying natural gas supplies. “The European Union promised to help diversify natural gas supplies, which undoubtedly affects the price of gas bought from Russia,” Stavitsky said Kiev is planning to buy about 290 million cubic metres of gas in Europe in reverse mode (about 140 million cubic metres will be delivered through Poland and the rest through Hungary). Ukraine has been receiving natural in reverse flows from Europe since November 1, 2012. The gas is supplied across the Ukrainian border with Poland under a contract with from German RWE. The gas is supplied across the Ukrainian border with Poland. RWE planned to supply up to 5 billion cubic metres of gas to Ukraine until May 2013. Last year Naftogaz Ukrainy imported 55 million cubic metres of gas using the reverse flow scheme. The throughput capacity of Ukraine’s gas transportation system on the Western border is about 40 billion cubic metres. In 2014, Ukraine will buy no more than 18 billion cubic meters of Russian gas. “The amount of Russian gas to be imported in 2014 may be about 18 billion cubic metres or even less,” Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO Yevgeny Bakulin said. In 2013, Ukraine will buy 27.3 billion cubic metres of natural gas, including 18 billion cubic metres from Gazprom.