KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine will sharply increase gas imports via the southern Transbalkan route linking it with Greece on Friday as it battles to replace supplies lost due to Russian attacks, import data from transit operators showed.
Drone and missile assaults on infrastructure have deprived Kyiv of at least half of its own gas production in recent months, forcing it to import an additional 4 billion cubic metres of gas over the winter heating season to make up the difference.
The operator data showed that Ukraine expected to import 2.28 million cubic metres of gas via the route on Friday versus 1.28 million on Thursday. It did not give figures beyond that.
Ukraine resumed gas imports via the Transbalkan route – which crosses Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria – in early November following a sharp increase in Russian assaults.
The same operator data showed that Ukraine planned to import about 23 mcm of gas from other sources on Friday, including nearly 10 mcm from Hungary, about 9 mcm from Poland and about 4.8 mcm from Slovakia – all broadly in line with volumes recorded since October.
Ukraine mainly uses gas for heating homes and generating electricity.
More than 400,000 customers were without electricity as of midday Thursday, and Russia carried out more strikes on energy facilities in the east of the country overnight into Friday, national power grid operator Ukrenergo said.
Ukraine’s nuclear energy sector has been rocked this month by a corruption scandal that has led to the dismissal of the country’s energy and justice ministers.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
