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He did not specify how much gas Ukraine planned to purchase. Kyiv had expected to import 4.6 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas before a series of Russian strikes hit Ukraine’s gas sector earlier this autumn.
Due to the damage, energy minister Svitlana Hrynchuk said imports would need to be increased by 30%, while analysts estimated total gas import requirements at no less than 6.3 bcm.
“We expect that in this very difficult situation, Ukraine must be prepared to find gas worth $2 billion,” Zelenskiy said in comments from a Sunday media briefing that were cleared for publication on Monday.
UKRAINE SEEKS MORE US LNG, COOPERATION FOR ODESA TERMINAL
Ukraine’s cash-strapped government is in talks with international allies to raise funds to cover the cost of increased imports, he said, with some prepared to provide grants, including an additional tranche from Norway in January.
Ukraine has already purchased around 0.5 bcm of U.S. LNG this year, but Zelenskiy said the government had reached agreements for additional volumes if required.
Kyiv traditionally receives U.S. gas through terminals in Poland, but new volumes may come through Greece and the Transbalkan corridor.
And Zelenskiy added that Ukraine wanted to work with American companies to build its own LNG terminal in the Black Sea port of Odesa and use its large underground gas storage facilities to supply U.S. gas to Europe.
“An option (is) to build an LNG terminal in Odesa, but this requires negotiations with Turkey to ensure that the Bosphorus Strait is open for this purpose,” he said.
Ukraine had previously considered building such a terminal, but Turkey refused to allow tankers to pass through the strait to the Black Sea.
(Reporting by Max Hunder, Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Joe Bavier)
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