Traders Want Ukraine to Toe EU Line

摘要

A clearer regulatory and tax regime and greater alignment with EU laws are vital if European traders are to establish a bigger presence in Ukraine, sources tell Energy Intelligence. Ukraine's storage tanks have been in particular demand this year as EU inventories near tank-top amid crumbling demand. In the first five months of 2020, European firms stored four times more gas in Ukraine's 31 billion cubic meter (1.1 trillion cubic foot) facilities than they did last year, encouraged by an unbundled gas transmission system operator (TSO) and attractive transport and storage tariffs (WGI May27'20). Without this, excess supply would have pushed European hub prices even lower, according to the chief operating officer for gas supply and origination at German utility RWE's trading arm, Andree Stracke.