Ukraine, which has begun building up gas reserves for next winter, is interested in increasing LNG supplies through Greek terminals and the pipelines of the Vertical Corridor system, Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz said on Monday.
Ukraine is already receiving US liquefied natural gas via Greece through the Vertical Corridor, but its share of total imports remains small.
Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary agreed in 2016 to develop the infrastructure for the realization of the so-called Vertical Gas Corridor which would allow the transmission of gas between the countries in either direction.
“Particular attention was given to the possibility of increasing gas supply volumes – both for Ukraine and for the Eastern European region via Greek ports,” Naftogaz CEO Serhiy Koretskyi said after the meeting with Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Harry Theoharis.
“We also discussed diesel fuel supplies, the use of the Greek fleet, and other mutually beneficial projects,” he added.
After Russian missile strikes virtually destroyed Ukraine’s domestic refining capacity, it became almost entirely dependent on imported fuel, sourcing supplies from western, central and southern Europe.
The Kyiv-based Enkorr fuel consultancy said on Monday that Ukraine had stepped up diesel fuel imports and analysts do not expect the country to face a fuel shortage in April.
Analysts at another consultancy, ExPro, said this month that gas traders including state-owned Naftogaz will import at least 75 million cubic meters of gas into Ukraine via the ‘Vertical Corridor’ from LNG terminals in Greece in March.
ExPro said that the gas imports would reach 2.41 mcm per day and come from Greece’s Revithoussa LNG terminal at special reduced transport rates. [Reuters]