Ukraine plans to import up to 800 million cubic meters of gas from Europe in February and March to offset a production drop of up to 40% after Russia launched missile attacks, a senior Ukrainian oil and gas industry source told Reuters on February 21.
Russia has focused on airstrikes of missiles and drones on Ukraine's power sector since the conflict broke out in 2022, but has stepped up attacks on gas fields in recent weeks.
Ukrainian state gas company Naftogaz and private energy company DTEK said Russia attacked and damaged the companies' facilities at least twice in February.
Before the airstrikes, Ukraine produced about 52 million cubic meters of gas per day while consuming between 110 and 140 million cubic meters of gas per day in the winter. The shortage is offset by gas storage.
"We may not need to import this heating season, but attacks on production are forcing us to import gas to compensate for the decline in domestic production," the unnamed source said.
The Ukrainian gas transmission system operator said the country began increasing its gas imports in early February. Since then, the amount of imported gas has increased nearly 10 times to more than 20 million m3/day.
Energy officials and suppliers have not disclosed current gas production levels. Ukraine mainly uses gas for home heating and cooking.
Ukraine's main gas production facilities are vulnerable to Russian attacks because they are located in the Kharkiv frontline and in the vicinity of Poltava.
The source said that Ukraine has low gas reserves, but with a plan to import and produce domestic gas, the country will be able to overcome the heating season without having to impose any restrictions on industry and households. The heating season in Ukraine typically starts in late October and ends in April.
Previously, energy experts warned that Ukraine's gas reserves currently have only nearly 10% of the total storage capacity of 30 billion cubic meters.
The source said that Ukraine needs to start pumping gas for the 2025-2026 winter in the spring and the country needs to store about 13 billion m3 of gas. Ukraine has 12.9 billion cubic meters of gas in storage facilities at the start of the current season.
The source noted that Ukraine still does not know how much gas it can import after March because this will depend on domestic production levels, which will be directly affected by the intensity of Russian missile attacks.
