Ukraine's state oil and gas firm Naftogaz has built its largest gas reserves in six years ahead of winter, despite a jump in Russian strikes on the company's facilities, its acting CEO told Reuters.
Naftogaz acting CEO Sergii Fedorenko said the volume of reserves in underground storage facilities had reached 16 billion cubic metres, the highest since 2020. Ukraine began the previous heating season with reserves of less than 14 bcm, and the government has said the country needed at least 13.2 bcm of gas in reserve to get through the winter.
Fedorenko said Russia had attacked Naftogaz assets more than 400 times so far this year, twice as many times as in 2025, hitting oil and gas production, processing and transportation facilities as well as thermal power plants in frontline regions.
Independent storage data also pointed to reserves above 15.8 billion cubic metres, about 1.2 billion cubic metres more than the government's accumulation plan for November 1. Fedorenko estimated gas consumption in 2026 would fall to about 20 bcm from 21 bcm in 2025, partly because Russian strikes had forced some factories to shut down.