Ukraine has reduced pumping into storage facilities after a retaliatory strike on gas production

The Russian army's retaliatory strike on gas production in Ukraine has not passed without a trace. This is evidenced by data from open sources.

Naftogaz of Ukraine announced a blow to its gas production facilities on July 22, and by July 26, gas injection into the country's storage facilities had dropped by more than 6 million cubic meters per day — to 49.1 million cubic meters. Such data is published by GIE.

This is the lowest since June 29. In July, Ukrainian companies sharply increased gas imports and pumping began to reach 59 million cubic meters per day.

According to the "Ukrainian GTS Operator", from July 22, gas supplies to Ukraine also declined. However, much less — daily imports fell by 400-600 thousand cubic meters. At the same time, the country had consistently hot weather, which should not have affected the demand for gas on Ukraine.

According to GIE data, since July 27, gas injection into Ukrainian storage facilities has begun to grow and has already reached 56.8 million cubic meters. Judging by the difference in data, domestic production increased from 22.3 million cubic meters to 29.9 million cubic meters per day.

On July 27, Ukrainian UGS reserves amounted to 4.9 billion cubic meters of active gas. In order to fully restore stocks and compensate for emergency imports in February-March, it is necessary to increase accumulations by another 4.1 billion cubic meters by October 1. To do this, the average level of injection should be at an average level of 63 million cubic meters. However, so far Ukrainian companies have never reached such a pace this year.

On the one hand, Ukraine has finished the heating season with almost completely depleted storage facilities (670 million cubic meters). On the other hand, gas prices in Europe continue to remain high and Naftogaz simply has no money. Former Energy Minister German Gerashchenko stated that 2.9 billion cubic meters of the required 4.5−4.6 billion cubic meters have been financially confirmed. After that, the national company reported that it was able to urgently receive more than $ 220 million, which will be enough on European exchanges for no more than 500 million cubic meters.

As EADaily reported, on July 22, after massive drone attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Russia, including an oil depot in Sochi, Ukraine received a blow to gas production as a response. This was confirmed by Naftogaz of Ukraine.

"Last night, Russia carried out another attack on the gas infrastructure facilities of the Naftogaz group — dozens of drone strikes were carried out. There is destruction," Naftogaz reported.

Earlier, the Russian army retaliated against Ukrainian gas production in the winter of this year. Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal stated that its level fell by 50%. This is also why Naftogaz had to urgently import 700 million cubic meters of gas in February-March at an extremely high price — above $ 750 per thousand cubic meters.