Ukraine plans to increase gas storage tariffs

The NEURC is set to consider a draft resolution on May 5 to increase tariffs for gas injection, withdrawal, and storage services at Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities, ExPro reports.

Currently, tariffs for natural gas storage services (injection and withdrawal) are regulated under a cost-plus methodology. At the same time, the Law of Ukraine “On Natural Monopolies” allows for the introduction of incentive-based regulation in tariff setting for gas storage services.

The relevant methodology for determining and calculating tariffs for gas storage facilities operating under regulated access, based on multi-year incentive regulation, was approved by NEURC resolution No. 403 dated March 17, 2026.

The tariff calculations for natural gas storage services take into account:

• planned annual injection capacity of 8.08 bcm;
• planned annual withdrawal capacity of 8.4 bcm;
• planned average annual working gas volume of 11.27 bcm.

Projected costs related to natural gas procurement for production and technological needs, as well as normative and specific losses, are based on volumes of 68.6 mcm and an expected gas purchase price of 23,581 UAH/tcm.

According to NEURC, storage capacity booking is currently predominantly conducted on a day-ahead and monthly basis, which limits mid-term operational planning for storage facilities and leads to increased equipment wear and higher maintenance and repair costs due to uneven operating regimes.

To stimulate long-term capacity booking, the regulator proposes to approve the following coefficients:

• 0.9 for annual storage service bookings (annual and bundled capacity);
• 1.0 for bookings during the base injection and withdrawal season;
• Coefficients for monthly (1.1) and day-ahead (1.2) bookings are proposed to remain unchanged.

Overall, NEURC proposes to increase tariffs for UGS services:

• gas storage – 0.45 UAH/tcm per day (excl. VAT), compared to the current 0.40 UAH/tcm;
• gas injection – 360.02 UAH/tcm (excl. VAT), up 48% from the current 253.03 UAH/tcm;
• gas withdrawal – 360.02 UAH/tcm (excl. VAT), up 42% from the current 243.52 UAH/tcm.

Following approval of the draft resolution, NEURC will collect feedback and comments from market participants, which may lead to adjustments before final tariffs are adopted.