Ukraine Expects 18 pct Fall in Russian Gas Volume

Russia is expected to reduce its natural gas shipments via Ukraine by about 18 percent this year, according to Ukrainian gas transit monopoly Ukrtransgaz.

"We had transit of 62 billion cubic metres (bcm), but this year it will be at 51 billion," the company's press service quoted chief Ihor Prokopiv as saying on Wednesday.

Volumes fell by 27.8 percent in 2014 to 62.2 billion cubic metres, according to the Ukrainian energy ministry.

Ukraine has said it needs to collect between 14 and 19 bcm of gas in its underground storage facilities to guarantee the transit of Russian gas to European consumers and for its own needs through the winter.

Ukrtransgaz said it had added around 4 bcm of gas to reserves, which now amounted to 11.6 bcm.

Russian energy officials this month said Ukraine had agreed to pump enough gas into its storages to maintain pressure in the system for Russian gas to reach Europe this winter.

Around 40 percent of Russia's gas exports to the European Union traverse Ukraine.

Reporting by Pavel Polityuk