The Ukrainian power engineer predicted the emptying of gas storage facilities in the country

Ukraine will exhaust gas reserves in underground storage facilities by April and will be forced to purchase additional volumes. This was stated on November 6 by Alexander Kharchenko, director of the Ukrainian Energy Research Center, in an interview with the Ukrainian edition of the Telegraph.

According to him, next winter may become especially difficult due to lack of funds and destruction of the energy infrastructure.

"My forecast is that in April we will enter dry storage again and will need new purchases," Kharchenko said.

According to the expert, during the current heating season, Ukraine will almost completely empty its gas reserves, and next year it will need to import about 4.5–5 billion cubic meters of gas. At the same time, as Kharchenko emphasized, the state-owned Naftogaz company has already accumulated significant debts received from loans from Ukrainian and international banks.

The situation is complicated by the preferential gas price for the population and utilities, due to which the company does not have sufficient financial flow to cover the costs. Kharchenko noted that preparations for the next heating season depend on three key factors: the safety of compressor stations and gas purification plants after attacks, the possibility of restoring production capacities and the availability of resources for fuel purchases.

The expert stressed that Naftogaz is already on the verge of being unable to take out new loans, and the issue of financing future gas supplies remains open.

Freezing and waiting: in the cities of Ukraine they refuse to turn on the heating

Cities across the country may be without heat for more than a month.

Former Minister of Energy of Ukraine Olga Buslavets said on October 25 that the upcoming heating season would be extremely difficult for the country, and the winter would be the most difficult of all previous ones. According to Buslavets, the situation in Kiev, Sumy and Chernihiv regions is very difficult.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced on October 23 that Ukraine was preparing for the most difficult heating season under martial law. It was clarified that a critical situation has developed in the city of Slavutich, Chernihiv and Sumy regions.

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