Ukraine will participate in the European Union’s joint gas purchase program on world markets and aims to purchase 2 billion cubic meters of fuel by next winter, EU Commissioner for Energy Policy Kadri Simson said on Thursday, Reuters reports, News.ro reports.

EU countries trying to replace Russian gas plan to make a joint bid to sign the first collective gas contracts in the coming months to start filling storage before the winter demand peak.

“Ukraine has indicated that, in addition to its own domestic production, it may need another 2 billion cubic meters for a safe winter,” European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said at a press conference on Thursday.

Vice-President of the European Commission Maros Šefčovych, who manages joint gas purchases in the EU, held a video conference with international gas suppliers on Wednesday.

Europe is on track to expand its LNG processing capacity to 227 billion cubic meters by 2024, up from 178 billion cubic meters today, as countries swap Russian gas for other sources of supply, Sefcovic said.

Participation in the EU scheme could help Ukraine avoid gas shortages. Of the 27.3 billion cubic meters of gas that Ukraine used in 2021, domestic production was approximately 19.8 billion cubic meters, imports – 2.6 billion cubic meters, and 4.9 billion cubic meters of gas was taken from underground deposits.

According to preliminary estimates of the state energy company “Naftogaz”, in 2022 gas production in Ukraine amounted to about 18 billion cubic meters.

Ukraine uses little gas to generate electricity, but relies on the fuel for heating and industry, sectors that will be vulnerable if Russian strikes damage infrastructure.

Ukraine does not import gas directly from Russia, but Ukrainian pipelines still transport some Russian gas to Europe.

Russia has bombed Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent months, and on Thursday launched missile strikes on Ukraine, killing at least six civilians and shutting down the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Kadri Simson said he would convene an emergency video conference with Ukrainian and EU energy ministers on Thursday to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, after Kyiv said Russian strikes had cut power to the plant and forced it to switch. for emergency diesel fuel.