Ukraine is ready to stop pumping Russian natural gas into its underground storage facilities because a sufficient amount of gas has already been pumped, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Monday, Russia news agency RIA Novosti reports.
OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) Deputy Chief Executive Valery Golubev said last week that Ukraine needed to pump at least 28 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas into its underground storage facilities to meet its requirements and ensure uninterrupted Russian gas transit to Europe.
Tymoshenko said, "We have determined that 25.5 billion cubic meters [which have already been pumped into Ukraine's underground gas storage facilities] are sufficient for us to live normally through the winter period and provide the country with gas. We can already stop pumping natural gas into gas storage tanks."
The Ukrainian premier earlier said 27 billion cubic meters would be pumped into the country's underground storage facilities to provide for the ex-Soviet republic's energy stability in the autumn and winter.
Ukrainian underground storage facilities have a total capacity of 32 billion cubic meters.
Tymoshenko also said the gas contracts signed between Russia and Ukraine at the start of the year mustn't be reviewed in any case.