The White House hasspearheaded talksto end the more than three years of war that have followed Russia’s invasion ofUkraine. Kyiv said it was willing to accept a ceasefire proposal on Tuesday, but Moscow has yet to agree to a deal.
U.S. imports of gas intoUkrainehave the potential to strengthen an economic partnership with Washington and the presence of U.S. gas inUkraine’s storage facilities could deter Russian attacks.
Dmytro Lyppa, the head ofUkraine’s gas operator, told Reuters in an interviewUkrainecould import at least 4 billion cubic meters of gas between April and October.
Reuters calculations based on average prices for gas find the total imports bill would be at least $1 billion.
Of the total imported via Europe, up to half would be made up of LNG shipped to European terminals, rather than pipeline gas, and of this, Lyppa said as much as possible could be from the United States.
“If we take the political aspect, it is better for us to bring as much (U.S. LNG) as possible to Poland and gradually bring it to us,” Lyppa said in an interview cleared for publication on Wednesday.
The geopolitical situation meant that U.S. LNG could be preferred over rival Qatari LNG, for instance, Lyppa said, provided the price difference was not significant.
END TO RUSSIAN TRANSIT
Ukrainewas a major pipelinetransit routefor Russian gas until the beginning of this year, when the transit deal between the two countries expired, depriving Russia of revenues from transit fees.
Ukrainealso has large underground gas storage facilities, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv and the White House havediscussedusing the sites to store U.S. LNG that could replace some of the western European gas on whichUkrainerelies.
Russian forces have intensified attacks on Ukrainian gas infrastructure – production and underground storage facilities – in recent weeks, reducingUkraine’s gas production and limiting its ability to remove fuel from storage.
Ukrainewas producing 52-53 million cubic meters of gas per day before the latest attacks, but a senior industry source said the attacks reduced production by up to 40%, forcing Kyiv toincreaseimports. Some output has been restored, but officials have declined to give updated figures.
In preparation for the 2025-26 winter heating season,Ukrainetypically starts pumping gas into storage when the current peak demand season ends around April as temperatures rise and consumption begins to decline.
Energy officials have estimatedUkraineneedsto have at least 13 bcm of gas in reserve by mid-October for the winter season to run smoothly.
Lyppa said that LNG could be supplied toUkrainefrom terminals in Germany, Greece, Lithuania and Poland.
The Polish and Lithuanian routes were the cheapest, but Lyppa saidUkrainewould also have to use other pipelines as the Polish interconnector allows the import of only up to 7 million cubic meters per day, compared with demand of 20-25 million.
($1 = 0.9158 euros)
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; editing by Barbara Lewis)
