Kinetics of oxygen absorption in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 6+x has been described. Experiments were performed in the high pressure reactor with constant volume in the temperature range of 150–700°C and oxygen pressure 1.4–10.7 atm. Two stages of oxygen absorption in tetraphase have been discovered. The first is related to the formation of a solid solution of oxygen in Cu(I) layers with the activation energy 0.07 ± 0.01 eV . The second one is oxygen diffusion in the system of short disordered chains ( Cu − O )n with the activation energy 0.30 ± 0.01 eV . Growths of chains and their interaction during the second stage results in the formation of ortho-phase accompanied by further decrease of the reaction rate. Structure-chemical reasons for the multistage mechanism of oxygen absorption are discussed.