Gas Milking: How Ukrainians Get Skinned for Their Own Gas

Every damn year, winter sneaks up like a street thug — suddenly, just like the new tariffs. Naftogaz bursts onto the stage with the same old show:

“There’s not enough gas. Import! Expensive! Suck it up, stop whining.”

At that moment, someone starts to wonder:

“Whose gas is it anyway? Isn’t it ours?!”

It’s ours — just not for us.

🛢️ There’s plenty of gas, just not for you.

Ukraine is top-tier in Europe for reserves:

• 1+ trillion cubic meters underground,

• the Black Sea,

• Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Lviv — all packed,

• there’s even shale, though the environmentalists howl.

So why, with resources under our feet, do they keep droning:

“Not enough! We’re buying from Europe!”

The answer is simple — because someone’s getting fat off it.

🎭 The Great Gas Scam

📦 Illusion #1: There’s Not Enough Gas

We produce over 19 billion cubic meters a year — almost covers everything.

But part of it:

• gets drained through shady schemes,

• is hidden offshore,

• is fudged in reports.

And also — the shortage is made up. Why? So that…

🔁 Illusion #2: We Buy from Europe

Nope.

We buy Russian gas through Europe.

It’s called virtual reverse flow:

• Send it to Slovakia,

• “return” it to Ukraine,

• on paper it’s “European”,

• the price tag — twice as fat.

In reality, the gas never went anywhere.

It’s like pouring your own water to your neighbor, and he gives it back — only for €3 and with an “import” label.

📈 Illusion #3: Market Price

You’re not just being scammed — you’re being cut “by the rules of the market.”

The price isn’t “cost + markup”, but set by the highest check.

They declare a shortage — the price skyrockets. Some scream, others count profits.

🧮 Who Pumps How Much — and Who Gets Lucky

• “Ukrgazvydobuvannya” — ~14.5 billion m³

• “Ukrnafta” — ~1.2 billion m³

• Private companies (DTEK, Burisma, Smart Energy) — ~3.4 billion m³

And then the fun begins:

• State companies don’t care about prices for people.

• Private ones — export, splitting up, offshores.

• People get “European” gas from their own land.

💰 Why All This?

Because shortage = money.

They create an illusion of disaster to:

• keep everyone scared,

• push prices up,

• pull in international aid,

• slice off subsidies for themselves.

As they say — oil for the oligarchs, gas for the poor, so they pay and keep quiet.

📉 Why Not Change the System

Theoretically, Ukraine could:

• pump more,

• revise tariffs,

• create its own fund, like Norway,

• provide cheap heat.

In practice:

• Licenses — with the “right people”,

• Offshores — sacred,

• The people — expendable.

Reforms = risk of losing the cash cow. Easier to keep people in debt and cold.

🇳🇴 Why Not Like Norway?

Norway:

• nationalized everything,

• put it in a fund ($3 trillion),

• lives off the interest for all the people.

Ukraine:

• privatized the flows,

• sent the profits offshore,

• sold gas to Europe “for the record”, and to people — at “suck it up” rates.

📌 In the End:

Gas in Ukraine isn’t about energy. It’s about power and control.

While the masses swallow stories about “shortages” and “imports”, the elite sell them their own gas at the price of Qatari LNG delivered by helicopter.

Conclusion:

Ukraine is a place where there’s gas, but for the people it’s as if there isn’t. The people are supposedly the owners, just without the keys. Everything’s yours, just not for you.