Three companies have submitted applications to store natural gas in Ukrainian underground gas storage (USG) facilities in the customs warehouse regime, a source in the Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine has reported.
The source said that in coming days first pumping could start and first documents would be signed.
Until recently, the customs clearance of natural gas transported to Ukraine for its storage in the UGS facilities could be carried out only in the customs transit regime. The provisions of the Customs Code of Ukraine set the time limits for transit transportation by pipelines at 31 days, but these conditions were not economically acceptable for most foreign traders.
After the Energy Customs of the State Fiscal Service issued order No. 45 dated June 1, PJSC Ukrtransgaz granted permission to open and operate a customs warehouse on the basis of the Ukrainian UGS facilities. This allows companies, including foreign ones, to store gas for 1,095 days (three years) without paying any taxes and customs fees for the further transportation of natural gas from the territory of Ukraine.
In recent years, Ukrainian storage facilities of 31 billion cubic meters were loaded by only 50%. In this regard, the operator of the Ukrainian gas transport system offers to provide storage services to foreign traders, primarily from neighboring countries where there is a shortage of gas storage facilities – Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Moldova.
As of the beginning of June, Ukrtransgaz declared its readiness to provide storage services at the lowest price in Europe of around EUR 0.4/MW per storage cycle. (Interfax-Ukraine/Business World Magazine)