Ukraine’s state energy firm Naftogaz has signed a contract to buy 140 million cubic metres (mcm) of U.S. LNG from Poland’s Orlen PKN, Naftogaz said on Wednesday.

Ukraine needs to import large volumes of gas ahead of the 2025/26 heating season after Russian shelling left its storage sites almost empty.

“Naftogaz is diversifying its sources and routes of gas supply. This enhances Ukraine’s energy security and resilience amid the ongoing full-scale war with Russia,” Naftogaz CEO Sergii Koretskyi said in a statement.

Naftogaz said that it had already contracted a total of 440 mcm of LNG from Orlen.

The company added that the gas would be regasified at the LNG terminal in Świnoujście in Poland or the Klaipėda terminal in Lithuania and transported to Ukraine via the Polish gas transmission system.

A previous contract with Orlen for 100 mcm was signed in April.

Ukrainian energy minister German Galushchenko said last month that Ukraine needed to import at least 4.6 bcm of gas for the 2025/26 winter heating season.

Analysis firm ExPro said this week that gas reserves in Ukrainian storage facilities exceeded 8 billion cubic metres (bcm) as of June 28 but remain at their lowest level in the last 11 years.

Ukrainian energy officials have said the country needs to accumulate around 13 bcm of gas for the new heating season.

The data of Ukraine’s gas transmission operator showed that the country would import about 26.4 mcm of gas on Wednesday versus 26.5 mcm on Tuesday. Gas would come from Poland – 8.2 mcm, Hungary – 9.6 mcm and Slovakia – 6.8 mcm.

Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities are the largest in Europe and the third largest in the world and can store around 30 bcm of gas.
Source: Reuters