French Engie company began to supply Ukraine with gas
The press service of Ukrtransgaz reported on Thursday that the French energy utility company Engi, started to supply Ukraine with gas as of January 1st. The supply volumes are low – 0.4 million cubic meters per day - and the gas is imported from the territory of Poland via the Hermanowice gas-metering station (an entry point to the gas transportation system).
The company noted that Engie (formerly GDZ Suez) signed an agreement with Ukrtransgaz in October 2016. According to this agreement, natural gas is stored in Ukrainian storage facilities.
As of April 1st, bidirectional gas supplies between Ukraine and Slovakia via Budenets gas-metering station were made possible.
The guaranteed daily entry capacity is about 19 million cubic meters per day. What is important is that the transition of this gas-metering station into a bilateral operation mode would enable European traders to import gas to Ukraine for storage and export it from Ukraine after the completion of the storage period.
In 2014 a law was adopted according to which it is permitted to rent out the gas transportation system, including underground gas storage facilities, but without granting the renter the right of expropriation. It has to be noted that Ukraine has 13 underground gas storage facilities with a total capacity of 32 billion cubic meters and that a significant portion of this capacity is not used by Ukraine.