National oil and gas holding Naftogaz of Ukraine predicts a reduction by 17% in the daily natural gas imports from Europe in June 2017 against May 2017, to 24-25 million cubic meters per day, Commercial Director of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine Yuriy Vitrenko said during the presentation of the company`s draft development strategy May 24.
”In June, imports will shrink by 5-6 million cubic meters against May, to 24-25 million cubic meters per day,” he said, adding that the gas would be mainly bought for the money of Naftogaz and partially for loans of the World Bank.
Earlier, Ukraine in late November 2015, refused to purchase natural gas from Russia`s Gazprom. In general, the country doubled gas imports from Europe in 2015 from 2014, to 10.3 billion cubic meters, reducing by 56.5% the purchase of hydrocarbons from Russia.
In 2016, Ukraine imported 11.1 billion cubic meters of gas from Europe alone. In particular, 9.1 billion cubic meters arrived from Slovakia, 1 billion cubic meters from Hungary, and 1 billion cubic meters from Poland. In 2016, Naftogaz imported 8.2 billion cubic meters of gas from the European market, which was 11% down against 2015.
In mid-April, Vitrenko said Naftogaz had bought gas from European suppliers for delivery in May at a price that was $25-30 per 1,000 cubic meters lower than the price under the contract with the Russia`s gas monopoly Gazprom.
