SECURITY OF THE GAS MARKET OF UKRAINE AND FEATURES OF ITS IMPLEMENTATION
Authors: Matiichuk Liubomur 
Published: November 2022

The ways of implementing the main principles of functioning of the gas market in Ukraine according to the European scenario are outlined. It was determined that Ukraine currently applies the following systems of cooperation with the European Association of Gas Transmission System Operators of the EU – ENTSO–G, as well as the European Association of Electric Network Operators of the EU – ENTSO–S. The challenges facing the gas industry have been clarified, including: gas distribution and gas supply companies have mainly carried out a formal separation of spheres of activity, remaining in fact the property of the same shareholders and vertically integrated enterprises; preferential pricing of natural gas for specific categories of consumers (population, heat supply companies, religious organizations) in combination with a special regime of guaranteed supply creates prerequisites for the accumulation of debts and manipulations at the level of gas distribution and gas supply companies; the incompleteness of the process of establishing gas accounting systems and the existence of regulatory volumes of consumption leaves opportunities for manipulations and abuses and the formation of debts between market participants, primarily gas distribution companies to the operator; the global drop in natural gas prices is one of the reasons that stand in the way of increasing domestic production and, accordingly, reducing dependence on imports; there is still a threat of stopping the transit of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine after the expiration of the current five-year contract between Russia's Gazprom and Naftogaz of Ukraine, which will bring significant changes to the operation of the gas transportation system. The structure of the gas sector, which covers the management of the corporation Naftogaz of Ukraine, is structurally combined with the state gas production company JSC "Ukrgazvydobuvannya" and the operator of gas storage facilities, has been studied. Several criteria have been identified that will contribute to ensuring the appropriate level of security of the natural gas market in Ukraine, among which we can highlight the following: the low purchasing power of consumers. Unfortunately, the war caused several crises, which were consequently accompanied by the growth rate of prices and tariffs for energy resources. The decline in the general well-being of citizens generates enormous social consequences for Ukraine; the direction of increasing own production of natural gas in Ukraine is provided for in the Energy Strategy of Ukraine for the period up to 2030. The basis in this direction should be an exploration for finding and extracting shale gas deposits. It should be noted that the oil and gas industry is characterized by several differences, primarily in the analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness of investment projects. The systematic use of the energy security criteria of the oil and gas segment will provide an opportunity for the subjects of these market structures to dynamize the relevant components to obtain an energy effect, with the subsequent activation of mechanisms for adapting the entire system to new operating conditions. In summary, it should be noted that a plan is understood as a certain number of interconnected elements that interact with each other and form the integrity and practicality of their existence in terms of synergy. The application of systematicity allows solving the problem of long-term strategy and sustainability of energy security with the possibility of consistency of goals, balanced energy policy, and institutional transformation of the system. The synergy of the system will take place under the condition of adequate assessment of the main components for their functional purpose. The use of the systemic method involves a description of possible changes in the structure of the energy sector system of Ukraine, namely: a gradual change in the ownership of energy sector assets, an increase in the share of the private sector in the functioning of the country's energy sector.