A meeting of the Energy Coordination Headquarters with the participation of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy devoted to the situation in the energy sector and the heating season was held.
The meeting was attended by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, Deputy Head of the President's Office Rostyslav Shurma, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, Chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov, Minister of Energy Herman Haluschenko, Head of Naftogaz Ukrainy Yuriy Vitrenko and representatives of other relevant authorities.
"As a state, we must do everything to ensure the smooth running of the heating season," Zelenskyy said.
Shurma said that the heating season is controlled and planned, and the situation with coal stocks is improving.
Shmyhal said at a briefing following the meeting, the energy situation is currently stable and under control, albeit tense, as in previous heating seasons; it is currently complicated by the energy crisis in Europe.
The Government and the Ministry of Energy coordinated work with energy market operators, NPC Ukrenergo and the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission of Ukraine (NEURC) to resolve the situation with coal shortages in the warehouses of some TPPs and CHPPs.
"I want to assure the residents of Luhansk region, in particular the city of Schastia and those settlements that receive heating services from Luhansk TPP that your homes will not be left without power and heat. The government has done everything necessary for this, in particular, an additional gas service has been prepared for four private TPPs and CHPPs," the prime minister said.
Shmyhal added that other potential risks of the heating season were considered at the meeting of the Energy Coordination Headquarters. At present, imported coal supplied by sea for December and January has been contracted and the relevant work has been started to ensure supplies for February and March. Over the past two or three weeks, coal stocks in warehouses have increased by 100,000 tonnes.
"Ukraine will be with head and power. Tariffs and prices remain unchanged throughout the heating season," the prime minister said.
Vitrenko said that the country has sufficient gas reserves.
"Currently, our storage facilities have more than 15 billion cubic meters of gas. This volume is higher than the average in 2014-2018. Naftogaz Ukrainy has enough gas to meet the needs of households, budget-funded organizations, health care facilities and other consumers," he said.
Shurma added that after the end of the heating season in March-April, work to reduce inefficient consumption of natural gas, in particular, the program of thermal modernization, will begin.
"The first 5,000 houses are our goal for next year. This program will not last for one year, but for seven or ten years and envisages that the vast majority of 180,000 high-rise buildings will be thermally modernized," he said.
According to Shurma, thermal modernization of social facilities will be carried out synchronously.
"In general, we expect that this will reduce gas consumption in our country by 30-40% cumulatively," he said.
In addition, a program to increase the production of natural gas and other minerals in Ukraine will be implemented.
"To increase production from current 18-19 billion cubic meters to at least 23-25 billion cubic meters of gas over the next three or four years," the deputy head of the President's Office said.