KIEV, Sept. 13 – Ukraine could stop operating around 400 km of gas pipelines in the next 10 years due to surplus capacity, Ukrtransgaz President Ihor Prokopiv said.

"We have reached the point where we can approve a plan by the government and say to the whole world that we do not require 275 billion cubic meter gas pumping capacity, which incurs extra expenses for maintaining staff, compressor stations and other things. We could stop operating around 400 km of gas pipelines in the next 10 years," he said in an interview with the NV Business publication.

He said that today around 30% of gas compressor units are idle due to the large surplus capacity of the Ukrainian gas transport system.