The agreement was signed on April 27 by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmygal and EBRD head Odile Renault-Basso. According to the EBRD website, the money will be allocated under state guarantees of Ukraine, and the loan from the Bank will be supplemented by a grant from the Norwegian government worth almost 140m euros.
The Ukrainian prime minister noted that these funds will help the national operator Naftohaz to import significant volumes of natural gas to prepare for the next heating season.
However, in Ukraine itself, many experts are sounding the alarm and claim that the money provided by the EBRD will not be enough to pump enough gas into underground storage facilities to meet the upcoming heating season in full readiness.
Thus, the former head of the company Operator of the Gas Transport System of Ukraine, Serhiy Makogon, said on 20 April that gas reserves in the underground gas storage facilities after the winter are almost exhausted, and the country will need to import 5.5-6.3bn cu.m. of gas to prepare for the heating season.
This was his reaction to Naftohaz’s statement that 1.5bn cu.m. of gas has already been contracted for delivery from abroad since the beginning of this year and that another 2bn cu.m. should be purchased to prepare for the next heating season.
Verkhovna Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak also believes that Ukraine needs to request additional assistance from external partners to prepare for the winter. In his opinion, given the current gas prices, Kiev urgently needs to find and ask its partners for at least 2bn euros.
