Ukraine increases gas transit supplies

Natural gas transit supplies to Europe and the Commonwealth Independent States (CIS) countries via Ukraine grew by 8.2 percent year-on-year to 85.6 billion cubic meters to this year, the State Statistic Service announced Wednesday. Natural gas transit supplies to Western Europe over the period under review rose 8.6 percent to 83.2 billion cubic meters, while supplies to the CIS countries fell 3.4 percent to 2.4 billion cubic meters. The State Statistic Service data shows that Ukraine's trunk pipelines in the first 10 months of 2011 transported 125.3 million tons of cargo, 1.6 percent up against the same period of 2010. The state's gas transport system is the second largest in Europe, covering over 38,000 kilometers, with an annual earning about 2.7 billion U.S. dollars. Ukraine's transit capacity is 288 billion cubic meters on the border with the Russian Federation and 179 billion cubic meters on its Western borders.