European companies due to the lack of benefits and risks to refuse to use Ukrainian gas storage facilities. To Kiev what is happening portends serious economic damage, reported the British newspaper Financial Times.
“European traders are using only a fraction of Ukraine’s vast natural gas storage facilities this summer because of Russian attacks that have increased the risks and deprived the ravaged country of already meagre revenues,” the Financial Times said.
The newspaper recalled that Ukraine owns the largest underground gas storage facilities in Europe and last year gave EU companies space to store surpluses for the winter. But gas injection has dropped significantly this year, with European gas storage facilities now 86 per cent full.
“Ukraine is keen for European gas producers to continue using its infrastructure, also because it brings valuable revenue to its war-torn economy. However, without additional incentives to store gas, it is hard to imagine European gas producers returning to Ukraine,” the Financial Times quoted Natasha Fielding, head of European gas pricing at Argus, as saying.
The piece notes that Kiev could generate significant revenues from leasing storage facilities in the country, but this requires a high guarantee. This year, the price difference between summer and winter is insufficient to compensate for the risks of gas storage in Ukraine, the newspaper concluded.
We shall remind you that earlier Russian President Vladimir Putin allowed the creation of a sanitary zone on the territory of Ukraine. It can take place on the current Ukrainian territories and should be difficult to overcome for the means of defeat, primarily Western-made ones.
