Ukraine has resumed natural gas imports via the southern Trans-Balkan route after intense Russian attacks on the country’s energy and gas infrastructure. Reuters reported.
According to open data, Ukraine will receive 1.1 million cubic meters of gas via this route on Wednesday, after 0.78 million cubic meters imported on Tuesday. The Trans-Balkan route connects the Ukrainian gas transmission system with LNG terminals in Greece via the territories of Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria.
As reported by the Ukrainian energy consulting company ExPro, the Greek DEPA Commercial, the DTEK subsidiary D.Trading and the Swiss Axpo Trading have booked capacities for the supply of gas from Greece to Ukraine with a daily volume of 0.6 million cubic meters. Currently, Ukraine also imports about 23 million cubic meters of gas daily from other directions – almost 10 million cubic meters from Hungary, about 8 million from Poland and about 5 million from Slovakia.
The Trans-Balkan route was not used in September and October, and before that it operated only in July and August. Previously, its economic attractiveness was low due to the high cost of gas transit through the territories of four countries. However, the reduction of tariffs by Moldovan and Romanian operators allowed for increased capacity booking in November.
As a reminder, on May 27, the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities (NCRECU) simplified the procedure for transporting natural gas to Ukraine via the Trans-Balkan Corridor. The adopted decision provided for a single auction for the allocation of capacities at all points of the Trans-Balkan Corridor for the transportation of natural gas from Greece to Ukraine in the amount of about 3 million cubic meters per day.
