Ukraine's gas storage facilities all fit despite Russia targeting them since March – Naftogaz head

Russian missile strikes on gas storage facilities in western Ukraine could not stop their work, Oleksiy Chernyshov, the head of the board of Naftogaz of Ukraine, said In an interview with the Financial Times, noting that "technologically, we're all fit."

"We have managed to repair the [damaged surface] equipment and we fulfil our obligations [to our customers]" after the attacks," Chernyshov said.

The reservoirs where Ukraine stores gas are located at a depth of three kilometers, but Russia is attacking the equipment with which the gas is pumped and lifted.

Chernyshov said that the European Union could help Ukraine protect these facilities, given that it is in its own interests. Ukrainian storage played an important role in the EU's energy security last year, enabling European countries to use less gas from their storage and rely more on Ukraine.

Naftogaz expects that this year European companies will pump even more gas into Ukrainian underground storage facilities – up to 4 billion cubic meters (2.5 billion cubic meters last year).

During the interview, Chernyshov once again confirmed that Naftogaz is not going to extend the transit contract with Gazprom, which expires at the end of 2024. He is confident that the European Union will survive the loss of those 15 billion cubic meters, which are currently being transported through Ukraine.

"Can a supply of 3 per cent of all [EU] market consumption change the market? I don’t think it can change the market at all, neither in terms of pricing, nor in terms of volume. It’s not a big deal," he said.

Since March 2024, Russia has carried out four massive strikes on Ukraine's energy system, knocking out up to 7 GW of electricity generation capacity.

The last of them happened on April 27, when the Russians launched 34 missiles over Ukraine. The Air Force destroyed 21 of them.