KIEV, May 7: An explosion in Ukraine on Monday knocked out of service one of the main pipelines exporting Russian natural gas to the European Union, but was not expected to affect supplies, officials said.

A ‘large explosion’ near Kiev cut the pipeline, which carried Siberian gas through Ukraine to Germany and other EU clients, said Viktoria Ruban, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian emergency situations ministry.

A 30-metre-long part of the pipeline was torn off, with debris hurled up to 150m away.

“No limits on gas supplies to European customers have occurred,” Russian gas exporting monopoly Gazprom said in a statement.

Emergency services put out a fire at the scene and investigators were working to uncover the cause of the explosion, the Ukrainian state gas company Naftogaz said.

The Urengoi-Uzhgorod pipeline has a capacity of 27.9 billion cubic metres of gas a year, Interfax news agency reported.

The emergency ministry said a bypass route was used to ensure continued supplies.—AFP