Ukrainian bioenergy companies are preparing to start exporting biomethane to the EU
23 January 2025 09:42
The first export of biomethane from Ukraine to Europe may take place as early as January 2025. Such expectations were recently expressed by the specialized publication ExPro, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
As Georgii Geletukha, Chairman of the Board of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine, explained recently, the export of Ukrainian biomethane to Europe can begin after sufficient accumulation of stocks in storage facilities and proper training of personnel.
Earlier this month, Geletukha said that in 2024, two bioenergy companies pumped the first million cubic meters of biomethane into the Ukrainian grid and underground gas storage facilities. However, he noted that this is not yet an export, as it is a small batch.
“And buyers want to see larger batches, so companies accumulate volumes in underground gas storage facilities, and as soon as a certain level is reached, they will start exporting it,” explained the head of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine.
Who provided this first million
VITAGRO Group, which has assets in the agricultural, energy, processing, construction, and chemical industries, was the first to supply biomethane to the Ukrainian gas transportation system. It started pumping biomethane into the Ukrainian gas transportation system in September.
According to the company’s press release, during the initial days of operation, the biomethane plant operated at 60-70% of its planned capacity, and the daily volume of gas entering the gas distribution networks was approximately 6 thousand cubic meters. The company also said at the time that it had already obtained all the necessary permits and that as soon as sufficient volumes were accumulated in the gas storage facilities, it would be possible to start selling biomethane to foreign buyers.
The release notes that the VITAGRO group began building the biomethane plant in 2022, after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the first biomethane launch as part of the commissioning took place in the winter of 2024. The plant was forced to stand idle for six months because the legal issue of biomethane exports was not resolved.
The second company that supplies biomethane of its own production to the Ukrainian GTS and pumps it into Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities is Horodyshche-Pustovarivska Agrarian Company LLC, a part of the Hals Agro Holding.
According to ExPro, the company has a biomethane plant in Chernihiv region with a design capacity of 3 million cubic meters per year.
Biomethane exports were hampered by the lack of a legal framework
Ukraine is known to have the largest area of agricultural land in Europe, and the raw material for biomethane is agricultural waste, so the potential for its production is great. However, the country lacked legislative mechanisms, did not create favorable conditions for biomethane production, and did not regulate its customs clearance, which made it impossible to export the resource.
In December 2023, the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine, a non-governmental organization that brings together leading companies operating in the bioenergy market, appealed to the authorities to adopt legislation that would allow Ukrainian biomethane producers to start selling their product. It was noted that the problem with the possibility of delivering biogas to the European market has not been resolved at the legislative level, so plants built at the expense of investors are forced to stop their work only because they are unable to sell their products.
At the end of March 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a law that unblocked biomethane exports. In September 2024, the Ministry of Finance issued a decree finalizing all customs clearance procedures for biomethane, allowing producers to start exporting.
The development of this market is one of the strategic directions of the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine.
Europe is also pinning its hopes on Ukrainian biomethane
In December 2024, at the annual Ukrainian Energy Security Dialogue conference, Yolanda García Mesquita, representative of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy, said that Europe recognizes that Ukrainian biogas has enormous potential, as it can displace natural gas and reduce dependence on it in the future.
According to various estimates, Ukraine can quickly reach an annual volume of biogas production and exports of 80-100 million cubic meters.
