Ukraine agrees to extend gas import deal with Eustream

Ukraine’s state-owned company GTSO has agreed with Slovak gas transmission operator Eustream to extend an agreement to import 42 million cubic meters of gas per day for Ukraine until September 30. Ukraine’s GTSO announced this today.

The companies originally agreed to increase export capacity to Ukraine through the interconnection point at Budince to as much as 42 million cubic meters last February, Reuters reported. The agreement was only temporary and therefore needs to be extended.

Ukraine has considerable natural gas reserves, but consumption exceeds production. The country is therefore forced to import gas. Ukraine used to be one of the main buyers of Russian gas, but since 2015 it has not imported gas directly from Russia, instead buying it from EU countries.

Before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine consumed around 30 billion cubic meters of gas annually. In October 2021, about four months before the start of Russia’s invasion, the then head of gas company Naftogaz said Ukraine would be self-sufficient in natural gas production within five years.