Ukraine gas reserves fall 15.3pc since start of heating season

KIEV: Ukraine's gas reserves have fallen by around 15.3 percent to 14.4 billion cubic metres (bcm) since the beginning of the heating season in mid-October, transport monopoly Ukrtransgas said on Monday. The country had accumulated about 17bcm of gas in underground storage as of the end of October, around 1.0bcm more than a year earlier. Ukraine has said it has enough gas to safeguard supply in winter and ensure stable transit of Russian gas to Europe.

Ukrtransgaz said Ukraine had imported 0.4bcm of gas so far in December and all of the volume came from Europe.

The European Union receives about 40 percent of its Russian gas imports via Ukraine.