Visiting European Commission Vice President on energy policy Maros Sefcovic on Friday has urged Ukraine to boost its natural gas stocks to smoothly run through the upcoming cold season.

"Despite the fact that Ukraine has reduced its gas consumption, it would be better to have some guarantees at the start of the autumn-winter season to go through the winter without any serious problems," Sefcovic said during his meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.

The European Union considers it appropriate for Ukraine to increase its gas reserves to about 17 billion cubic meters, Sefcovic said, adding that the 28-member block stands ready to assist Ukraine in receiving a loan worth 500 million U.S. dollars from the World Bank for gas purchases.

For his part, Groysman said the Ukrainian government is eager to boost its gas stocks, however, the discussions on the exact amount of fuel which will be pumped in the underground storage facilities are underway.

"Now, we are searching the ways on how to find the optimal amount of gas between 17 billion cubic meters and 14.5 billion cubic meters in order to smoothly run through the heating season," Groysman said.

As of Sept.1, Ukraine has accumulated 12.5 billion cubic meters of gas in its storage facilities.

During the previous cold heating season, running from late October 2015 to early April 2016, Ukraine consumed 16.4 billion cubic meters of gas, of which 8.62 were taken from the underground storages.

Source : XINHUA