According to national joint stock company Naftogaz of Ukraine, the consumption of natural gas in Ukraine in January reached 7.46 billion cubic meters on the whole, which is 2.62 billion cubic meters less than in January 2008, the Zerkalo Nedeli weekly says.
Of the total volume, imported gas made 3.971 billion cubic meters. The bulk of it was taken from underground storages, as imports from the Russian Federation in January made just 549 million cubic meters.
Nearly all categories of gas users reduced the consumption. Thus, the population used 2.98 billion cubic meters (279 million tons less than in January 2008), budget-sustained organizations 187 million cubic meters (10.7 million cubic meters less), enterprises of the utilities industry about 2 billion cubic meters (138 million cubic meters less).
Meanwhile, 297 million cubic meters of process gas was consumed, which is 599 million cubic meters less than in January 2008, mainly because of the Russian transit absence in the course of two weeks. The chemical and metallurgical industries reduced the consumption of natural gas in January by 448 and 475 million cubic meters, respectively.
Under the latest reports, in February Ukraine used about 6 billion cubic meters of gas, which is 2.3 billion cubic meters less than in February 2008. Naftogaz of Ukraine paid in time for the whole of gas imported from the Russian Federation.
