Ukrtransgaz: Ukraine stops using, starts pumping gas into storages

KIEV, Mar 13 (PRIME) -- Ukraine has finished gas outtake from its underground storages and started loading 4.5 million cubic meters of gas there daily, Maxim Belyavsky, spokesman for gas pipeline system operator Ukrtransgaz, said in a Facebook post on March 11.

The company said Ukraine had 8.183 billion cubic meters of gas in its gas storage facilities as of March 9.

The year of 2016 was the first when Ukraine did not use Russian gas in preparation for the winter season and relied solely on reverse gas imports from Europe. As a result, the country had only 14.7 billion cubic meters of gas stored by the start of the heating season, which is about 2 billion cubic meters less than it had by the time in two previous years.

Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission held negotiations in December, where Ukraine expressed readiness to purchase 1.5–4.0 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia during the winter and Russia said it was ready to ensure gas supplies to the E.U. across Ukraine. But several disagreements prevented Russia and Ukraine from agreeing to restore supplies to Ukraine.

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