KIEV, May 13 - Ukraine hopes to sign a loan agreement this September with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank worth $308 million on funding the modernization of the Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhgorod gas pipeline, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavytsky said.

"We expect that we will open this credit line in September this year," he said.

On March 23, 2009, the Ukrainian government, the European Commission, the EBRD, the EIB and the World Bank (WB) signed a joint declaration following an international fundraising conference on the modernization of the Ukrainian gas transport system.

Later, preliminary agreements were reached on the allocation by international banks of $1.5-2 billion to Ukraine for the modernization of the GTS, but their implementation was postponed due to Kiev's delaying reforms in the gas sector.