Optimal gas reserves for winter at Naftogaz of Ukraine underground storage facilities are within 14.5 bcm-17 bcm

The Ukrainian government has made a decision to increase the strategic gas reserves kept at the Naftogaz of Ukraine company's underground storage facilities to 17 billion cubic meters, but a lesser amount of gas may prove sufficient to get through the heating season, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said.

"We are looking for the ways to find the optimal figure between 17 billion cubic meters and 14.5 billion cubic meters so that we get through the winter normally," he said at a joint press briefing with European Commission Vice President for the Energy Union Maros Sefcovic in Kyiv on Friday.

Sefcovic, for his part, said that, along with the World Bank's $500 million loan and the resumption of trilateral cooperation with Russia, such a decision would bolster guarantees of reliably getting through the upcoming heating season.

The European Commission believes that the increase in the underground storage facilities' gas reserves to 17 billion cubic meters is a safe decision, he said.

Even though gas consumption is decreasing in Ukraine, it is better to have certain guarantees in order to enter the autumn-winter period with the confidence that no serious problems will occur during the winter, he said.

In order to fund the acquisition of these additional amounts of gas, the European Commission and Ukraine ought to unite their efforts to secure the World Bank's $500-million loan for these purposes, he said.

The trilateral talks earlier conducted between the European Commission, Ukraine and Russia were useful in terms of guarantees regarding supplies and the funding of Ukraine's purchase of Russian gas, Sefcovic said, confirming his readiness to separately discuss this issue with Russia.