Ukrainian gas usage drops 31% in the beginning of February

Government Decree 296 (dated 9 July 2014) aims to reduce gas usage among industrial consumers, government financed institutions and district heating companies. Gas usage among these three major categories was 7% above the target set out in Government Decree 296 for the first 10 days of February (compared to 13% above target in January).

In volume terms, these three categories used 864.4 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas in the first 10 days of February versus the targeted 807 mcm. Households used 720.3 mcm in the first ten days of February, a drop of 36% versus the previous year. All data excludes Crimea.

The largest breaches of the targets established by Government Decree 296 were observed in Rivne (+166%), Cherkasy (+88%) and Odesa (+ 26%) regions during the first ten days of February. During the same period five regions consumed less than target and 14 regions were within 15% of the government benchmark. In particular Kherson (-4%), Poltava (-3%), Sumy (-3%), Ternopil (-2%), Donetsk (-26%) and Luhansk (-49%) regions consumed less gas than their allocated target (although the figures for Donetsk and Luhansk reflect data delays and disruption linked to the Anti-Terrorist Operation in these regions).

Industrial consumers improved significantly, coming in 3% in excess of target (versus +20% in January) while district heating companies were above the desired benchmark (+14%) for the first ten days of February. Government financed institutions used 20% less gas than target.

Government Decree 296 targets natural gas usage of 70-90% of the previous year’s levels for industrial consumers, government financed institutions and district heating companies. The Decree does not set any targets for natural gas consumption by households.