Natural gas imports to Ukraine in 2022 dropped to a historic low of 1.5 bcm

In 2022, Ukraine imported 1.54 bcm of natural gas from Europe, according to ExPro calculations. Imports fell to the lowest level in the entire history of independent Ukraine. Compared to last year (2.56 bcm), imports decreased by 40%.

A sharp reduction in imports is directly related to the war. Natural gas consumption as a result of the full-scale war collapsed by 30-50% in some months. Domestic production and existing reserves in underground storages fully covered the required volumes of gas, which made imports unnecessary. In addition, for almost the whole year, gas in Europe was traded much more expensive than in Ukraine, in connection with which imports were also impractical.

Most of the gas - 860 mcm - was imported to the "customs warehouse" of Ukrainian UGS. The rest of the gas - 680 mcm - goes to the Ukrainian GTS. According to ExPro, the largest part of gas was imported to the GTS by Naftogaz of Ukraine in January-March 2022 - almost 550 mcm. About 10 Ukrainian companies imported the rest of the gas to the GTS.

The structure of imports has also undergone significant changes. In 2022, most of the gas was imported from Slovakia - 592.5 mcm of natural gas or 38.5% of all supplies (twice as much as last year). On the other hand, deliveries from Hungary fell 4.5 times - to 482.5 mcm, which is 31% of all deliveries.

In addition, 356 mcm of gas or 23% of all supplies were imported from Poland, almost five times more than last year. Also in 2022 gas was imported from Moldova - 110 mcm or 7% of all deliveries. It should be noted that the Energocom company imported gas from Moldova to create Moldova's reserve in Ukrainian UGS for the winter.

In 2022, several surges of imports can be distinguished: in the 1Q2022 and in October-November. At the beginning of the year (especially before the beginning of the Russian invasion), gas in Ukraine was traded more expensively than in Europe, due to which the imported resource competed on the domestic market with the resource of Ukrainian production. In addition, it was during this period that Naftogaz imported a significant part of the gas.

In general, during 1Q2022, almost 680 mcm of natural gas were imported, almost 44% of all annual imports. It was in February that the most gas was imported - 350 mcm.

The second surge in imports was at the end of the year - in October-November, which was associated with the collapse of spot prices for natural gas in Europe below the level of prices in Ukraine. This made imports economically feasible in certain periods. At the end of the year, natural gas was imported mainly by private companies, both Ukrainian and foreign, which injected the gas into the "customs warehouse".