National Bank of Ukraine: Ukraine will need $2.9 billion in 2025 to purchase gas
Ukraine's National Bank stated on Friday that the country will need $2.9 billion in gas imports by 2025, after Russian missiles and drones damaged Ukrainian gas production plants.
In the late winter and spring of 2016, Russia repeatedly attacked Ukrainian gas assets located in the east. This caused a drop of at least 40% in gas production. A certain amount of capacity has been recovered.
The bank stated in a recent report that although production would gradually improve, it wouldn't be enough to meet the needs of industry, utilities, and households.
Bank officials said that the bank expects to reduce the amount of gas purchased by about $1 billion in 2026, and approximately $0.4 billion in 2020. Ukraine said that its gas production at home could meet all of the country's needs.
It was added that "it is expected that a part of the imports of gas will be partly financed by international partners."
Naftogaz, the state-owned oil and gas company of Ukraine, said that it was in discussions with the government and international institutions this week to raise one billion euros for the purchase of over two billion cubic metres (bcms) gas for the heating season 2025/26.
The company has not disclosed how much gas Ukraine will need to import in the coming year. However, the former head the Ukrainian gas transit operator stated that Ukraine could import as much as 6.3 billion cubic meters due to the fact that its reserves are at a record low.
In recent days, Ukraine imported up to 10,000,000 cubic metres of natural gas per day. Gas was pumped into storage facilities. (Reporting and editing by David Evans; Pavel Polityuk)
(source: Reuters)
