KIEV, July 17. / ITAR-TASS /. Ukraine has not yet accumulated sufficient reserves of natural gas to get through the upcoming heating season, Ukrainian parliament-appointed Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan said.

"We have 6 billion cubic meters of gas for the entire autumn and winter - it's not enough," he said.

Prodan said that Ukraine "is working to increase the reverse" from Europe. In addition, he recalled, the government of Ukraine decided "to reduce gas consumption by energy enterprises by 30% and 10% by budget organizations."

The head of the Ministry informed that the gas price will be lower than if Kiev bought fuel directly from Gazprom, commenting on the gas imports from the EU.

Gas supplies to Ukraine were halted, but transit volumes were reportedly passing via Ukraine to Europe in line with the schedule.

Gazprom said June 16 that Naftogaz’s past due debt for supplied Russian gas totals $4.458 billion: $1.451 billion for November-December 2013 and $3.007 billion for April-May 2014.

Russia recently substantially raised the gas price for Ukraine to $485.5 per 1,000 cubic meters, but Ukraine has insisted the price should be lowered to that of this year’s first quarter ($268.5 per 1,000 cu m).

Moscow raised the price for Kiev to $385.5 per 1,000 cu m in the second quarter of 2014 because Ukraine failed to fulfill its commitments under an additional agreement concluded in December 2013, which obliged the country to pay for supplied volumes of Russian gas in time.

Another raise to $485.5 per 1,000 cu m was due to the cancelation of the Kharkiv Accords with Ukraine, which had been struck in 2010 and stipulated that Russia’s lease of naval facilities in Crimea (then part of Ukraine) would be extended by 25 years beyond 2017 - until 2042. The accords also envisioned a $100 discount.

June 16, Gazprom switched Ukraine off gas over unpaid debt while continuing pumping gas to the EU.