European Commission plans to create strategic gas reserve in Ukraine. How it will work

The European Commission (EC) is exploring the possibility of using Ukraine's underground gas storage facilities (UGS) as a strategic reserve for Eastern European countries to help them wean themselves off Russian gas. The plan involves EU support in purchasing and injecting 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas into the UGS, which would then be used for the needs of Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova and Ukraine itself.

Every year, the Ukrainian authorities offer European traders to more actively use the unused capacity of their underground gas storage facilities and even hope to create a gas hub on their premises. LIGA.net presents more details about the new iteration of this idea and whether its implementation will be useful for the next heating season.

Why Europe is counting on Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities

On February 25, EC President Ursula von der Leyen, in her statement at the summit in Kyiv, emphasized the Community's future measures to ensure Ukraine's energy security. One of the steps she mentioned was "seizing the full potential of Ukraine's vast gas storages, of which 80% are located close to EU Member States."

According to LIGA.net's Ukrainian sources, the head of the European Commission is counting on Ukrainian underground storage facilities, but not only in the context of Ukrainian energy security. Their use can help the EU achieve its goal of completely abandoning Russian fossil fuels. This goal was set three years ago in the REPowerEu plan with a deadline of 2027. But it is still too far from being realized.