Russia’s Gazprom sees risks for gas transit via Ukraine in winter

MOSCOW, Aug 22 (PRIME) -- Russian gas giant Gazprom does not rule out risks for uninterrupted gas transit through Ukraine to European countries in the forthcoming winter period due to a low level of gas in Ukraine’s underground storage facilities, a spokesperson for Gazprom said Monday.

“There is currently an underrun by 2.1 billion cubic meters as compared with last year’s schedule. If this continues, Ukraine will pump around 15 billion cubic meters into its underground storage facilities by the start of the heating season. The arithmetic is very simple here, they had 17.1 billion cubic meters last year,” the spokesperson said citing Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller.

Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO Andrei Kobolev said earlier in August that Kiev plans to accumulate around 14.5 billion cubic meters of gas in its underground gas storage facilities by the start of the heating season and believes the volume will be sufficient to go through the winter period.

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