Naftogaz produces some 44 million cubic meters of gas daily, 83% of overall production - CEO

MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax) - Ukraine's energy company Naftogaz produces 43 million to 44 million cubic meters of gas every day, which is around 83% of Ukraine's overall daily gas production of 53 million cubic meters, Naftogaz CEO Alexei Chernyshov said.

"Ukraine now produces around 53 million cubic meters of gas a day. Naftogaz's share in this proportion is 43 million to 44 million cubic meters. This is a 7%-8% increase compared to last year," Ukrainian media quoted Chernyshov as saying at Forbes's Energy of Business forum.

This amount of gas is enough to cover all needs, including for power generation, Chernyshov said.

"Additional generation in Ukraine is based primarily on natural gas. Therefore, there should be more of it. And there's enough of it for this purpose, as well," Chernyshov said.

Speaking to reporters on the forum's sidelines, Chernyshov said the power generation industry would require roughly 2 billion cubic meters of gas in winter.

"For new producers, I'd be happy if this were over 0.5 billion cubic meters. I am very cautious about extra consumption. Firstly, new equipment is energy-efficient and does not consume much, and secondly, not everything will be installed before November 1," he said.

"We'll provide the entire generation industry with gas," he said.

Speaking at the forum, Chernyshov insisted on the need to increase energy efficiency.

As reported, Alexei Brekht, acting board chairman of the Ukrainian power grid operator Ukrenergo, said at the same forum that the company expected at least 600 MW of new generation capacity to be introduced by the end of 2024 and was preparing to launch floating thermal power plants with a total capacity of 250 MW.

Naftogaz companies plan to produce 14.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2024.

In January-June 2024, Naftogaz produced 7.3 billion cubic meters of gas, compared to 6.7 billion cubic meters in the same period in 2023.