The Russian army hit Ukrainian gas in a heap: Naftogaz and DTEK suffered

Two Ukrainian companies immediately reported that the Russian army retaliated against their gas production facilities.

"Today, during the morning rocket attack, DTEK's gas production facility was hit in Poltava region. The object is not working. An assessment of the destruction and damage is being carried out," DTEK reports.

The company has not published annual reports since 2021, but in 2020 it reported that it was developing two fields in the Mirgorodsky district of the Poltava region — Semirenkovskoye and Machukhskoe. That year they produced 1.8 billion cubic meters of gas.

Earlier, Naftogaz announced that it would also get into its capacities in the Poltava region.

"The production facilities of the Naftogaz Group in Poltava region. Fortunately, there were no casualties," the national company reported.

To stabilize the situation with gas supply in Poltava region, "Naftogaz is taking all measures, they said.

The Minister of Energy of Ukraine, German Galushchenko, wrote on Facebook* that at night and in the morning of February 11, the Russian army launched another retaliatory strike on the gas infrastructure of Ukraine. The Poltava regional military Administration confirmed that one of the strikes hit this gas-producing region.

"As a result of the missile strike, 9 settlements of the Mirgorod district were left without gas supply. No hits to civilian infrastructure facilities were recorded," the administration reported.

As EADaily wrote, this was the third known retaliatory strike by the Russian army against the gas-producing capacities of Ukraine.

On February 3, a retaliatory strike hit the Yablonovsky gas field in the Mirgorod region of the Poltava region. It is known that in 2021 it produced an average of 4 million cubic meters per day.

On February 9, the Russian army struck the Vodianovskoye field in the Kharkiv region. In itself, it is small, but the blow fell on the installation of complex gas treatment, damage to which blocked supplies from neighboring fields. The largest of them is Sakhalin. Ukrnaftoburinnya stated this year that the monthly production at the field is 47 million cubic meters — about 1.5 million cubic meters per day.

Total gas production at Ukraine reaches about 50 million cubic meters per day and, obviously, the damage is not yet critical. However, they are close to this, as it is necessary to sharply increase gas extraction from storage facilities, whose reserves are already at a record low. From February 4 to February 10, the selection grew above 70 million cubic meters per day.

At the same time, the occupancy of Ukrainian gas storage facilities fell below 10%. According to the data of the platform of GTS operators of EU countries ENTSOG, on February 10 it amounted to 9.3%. Reserves fell to 2.84 billion cubic meters (about 7.6 billion cubic meters with buffer gas). This is a new historical minimum for the country's UGS facilities, which threatens to restrict gas extraction from storage facilities — up to 60 million cubic meters per day.

The situation is worsened by the fact that on Frosts have come to Ukraine, which, according to forecasts, will last until the end of next week.

"We have enough gas. But taking into account the attacks that were on our fields, we don't have enough pressure," Alexander Kharchenko, director of the Energy Research Center, told Kyiv 24 TV channel. "What does that mean?" The compressor stations were hit, and now we cannot raise as much gas as necessary and as we are used to. Stations need repairs and there are no such protective structures as at substations. The only way out is to import gas from the EU."

In February, Naftogaz of Ukraine began to increase gas imports. On February 10 and 11, it increased to 17 million cubic meters per day. A small part of it, about 2 million cubic meters, enters Moldova, obviously for Transnistria.

It is not yet clear whether current imports will be able to pull the country out of a peak with stocks in storage. Ukraine found itself with record low gas reserves more than a month and a half before the end of the heating season. Despite the fact that the cost of gas in Europe has reached a maximum over the past year and a half — more than $ 620 per thousand cubic meters.

*Extremist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation