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Ukraine’s underground gas storage facilities under control — EC Vice-President

The European Commission does not expect problems with gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine

HOUSTON, March 7. /TASS/. The European Commission does not expect problems with gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine, Vice-President of the European Commission (EC), in charge of Energy Union Maros Sefcovic told TASS.

"We discussed this issue with Minister Novak. We believe that the situation is under control. We do not expect any problems with gas supplies to Ukraine," he said.

Russian Energy Ministry said earlier that he has warned the European Commission (EC) about insufficient volume of gas in underground storage facilities of Ukraine. "I expressed concern, because the winter is not over yet, there is not much gas," he said.

Earlier in an interview with RBC, the Minister said that the Russian Energy Ministry estimates the volume of gas in Ukraine’s underground storage facilities at the level of 8.bln billion cubic meters and was concerned that it may not be enough to pass the winter.

Ukraine suspended buying gas from Russia in late 2015, and in 2016 did not use Russian gas in preparation for the heating season, buying gas in Europe by reveres. The current heating season of Ukraine began with gas reserves of 14.7 bln cubic meters, the underground storage facilities were 48% full.

In turn, Ukraine’s gas transport system operator Ukrtransgaz claimed that there are enough gas reserves in storage facilities for the heating season 2016/2017, and there was a technical possibility of additional imports, if necessary.