Ukraine Resumes Gas Imports via Trans-Balkan Corridor Thanks to Transit Discounts
Gas supplies to Ukraine through the Trans-Balkan corridor will resume in November after a two-month pause due to high tariffs. Discounts on transit from Moldovan and Romanian operators allowed for the renewal of capacity bookings.
Ukraine will once again begin importing natural gas through the Trans-Balkan corridor starting November 2025. This became possible after the gas transmission system operators (GTS) of Moldova and Romania approved a 50% reduction in gas transit tariffs via Route 1. These measures will be effective for six months and will last until the end of April 2026. Against this backdrop, Greece’s DEPA Commercial, D.Trading (a subsidiary of DTEK), and Switzerland’s Axpo Trading booked capacities for gas imports from Greece to Ukraine for November.
The tariff reductions became a key factor in stimulating the resumption of imports, as for September and October this year, no company took advantage of the opportunity to book capacities through this route. It was last actively used in July-August 2025, but due to high tariffs and the absence of long-term supply conditions, it was halted at the beginning of September.
Contextually, this resumption is important for Ukraine as its own gas production has significantly declined due to Russian attacks. Currently, domestic storage contains 13.2 billion cubic meters of gas, but by the end of the 2025/2026 heating season, it is necessary to import an additional more than 4 billion cubic meters. According to Naftogaz’s assessment, Ukraine needs to attract 1.9 billion euros for this purpose.
| Month | Capacity Booking (million cubic meters per day) |
|---|---|
| July-August 2025 | Active usage |
| September-October 2025 | 0 (halted) |
| November 2025 | 1.9 |
