Record imports in 2025: where did Ukraine get its gas from?

Source: CEEnergynews

Since Russian gas transit ceased at the end of 2024, Ukraine has increasingly relied on EU imports. However, the majority of its supply is still covered by domestic production. Although output declined in 2025, it still amounted to nearly 17 billion cubic metres (bcm). 

Gas imports totalled 6.47 bcm. This is the highest level since 2020. Compared to 2024, import volumes increased almost ninefold, from 724 million cubic metres (mcm). The largest share, 5.7 bcm, was procured by the Naftogaz Group. Of this, around 600 mcm consisted of US LNG.

Main suppliers

The main sources of natural gas were domestic producers, primarily Ukrgasvydobuvannya and Ukrnafta, while imported gas came from various European wholesalers, including Trafigura, Vitol, Shell Energy, Uniper, SEFE, Axpo, MET and DXT, reflecting a diversified procurement strategy. 

The 2025 ranking of suppliers based on imported volumes includes: 

• DXT won 100 tenders during the year

• MET Gas and Energy Marketing AG, Trafigura and Axpo were among the leading suppliers, each winning more than 60 tenders
• Orlen won 28 tenders and also sold a significant amount of LNG from Poland, financed by NAK’s own funds, under direct, bilateral deals.

Another state-owned company, GTS Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU), imported about 165 mcm, mainly at the end of the year, fulfilling its government obligations to purchase 340 mcm of imported resources from October 2025 to March 2026.

Private companies imported almost 770 mcm. Key players in the free market segment include D.Trading, the Energy Resources of Ukraine group, Ukrnafta, Ukrnaftoburinnya, Nadra-Geoinvest, Elektriya UA, Poltava Gas and Oil Company, CityEnergy, U.Commodities, the Geo Alliance Group, Energo Zbut Trans and AK Minerals. 

Countries and routes

According to ExPro and GTSOU, the largest amount of gas in 2025 was imported from Hungary – 2.94 bcm. The route’s popularity was driven by low sourcing costs and low transport tariffs. 

Gas flow via Poland ramped up during the year, reaching the technical capacity limits around June 2025. As a result, the offered capacity at the Poland-Ukraine interconnection point has been doubled as of July 2025, thanks to a temporary technical solution. 

This route provided additional supply to the region, leveraging the newly developed Baltic Pipe infrastructure, with Norwegian and Danish originated gas, as well as LNG regasification capacities in Poland, Lithuania, and Germany. A total of 2.1 bcm was imported during the year. 

In addition, 1.33 bcm of gas arrived from Slovakia. Although the capacity from Slovakia is the largest, due to high tariffs, this direction is not as popular as Hungary or Poland. Smaller volumes were supplied from Moldova (0.2 bcm) and Romania (0.1 bcm).

Through the Trans-Balkan route, or Vertical Corridor, 97 mcm of gas arrived. Although this represents a small share, the route’s role is growing.

In the middle of the year, a joint capacity product was launched, allowing gas to be transported from Greece to Ukraine at reduced tariffs. Over 70 mcm of gas was transported through it during the year, according to ExPro estimates. 

Finance

The gas sourced from European markets and delivered at the EU-Ukraine border was often financed through international institutions such as the EBRD and the EIB. 

In 2025, Naftogaz raised 1.4 billion euros in external financing from international financial institutions, which was fully used for gas imports 

• In April, a 270 million euro loan agreement was signed with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for imported gas purchases under state guarantees.
• In April, the Government of Norway provided 139 million euros for gas purchases through the EBRD platform.
• In August, a 500 million euro EBRD loan was signed with EU guarantees (UA-UIF), along with 80.5 million euros in Norwegian support.
• In September, a 300 million euro financing agreement was concluded with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for gas purchases and subsequent renewable energy investments.
• In November, a 127 million euro support agreement was signed with the Government of Norway through the EIB platform.

In addition, the company received a total of 24.4 billion hryvnia in loans from Ukrainian state-owned banks:

• PrivatBank – 9.7 billion hryvnia
• Ukrgasbank – 8.7 billion hryvnia
• Oschadbank – 6 billion hryvnia

The Ukrainian government provided an additional 8.4 billion hryvnia from the reserve fund for further purchases. The share of imports by financing was:

• 48 per cent financed through NAK’s own funds
• 40 per cent financed through funds from EBRD (via a public tender process)
• 12 per cent financed through funds from EIB (via a public tender process).