European Union officials to prevent the winter energy crisis are considering the possibility of storing gas in Ukraine’s underground storage facilities, which are located near the Polish border and hold up to 17 billion cubic meters, according to Bloomberg.
Such a decision could be taken because of the likely oversupply of gas in the EU, where UGS is now more than 70 percent full.
The Bilche-Volice-Uger storage facility, which is 96km from Poland and easily connected to the EU grid, is being considered for this purpose, given that Ukraine has played the role of a transit country for many years.
According to the agency, it could be an important part of the bloc’s efforts to secure energy supplies “and counter Vladimir Putin”.
“Ukrainian storage could help balance supply and demand in the second half of summer 2023, given their excellent connection to EU gas markets,” German utility RWE AG, which has used Ukrainian storage in the past, said in a statement.
That said, to make gas storage in Ukraine “viable”, prices would have to fall sufficiently low, the authors said.
On 5 June, the European Commission said that the EU gas storage facilities are almost 70% full.
Energy expert Igor Yushkov said in a conversation with FBA Economics Today that Europe has made an extraordinary reduction in gas consumption but has not balanced the market, a surge in global demand will lead to higher prices.
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