An employee walks past a gas installation during a training exercise for handling emergencies at a gas-pumping station in the town of Boyarka in Ukraine's Kiev region on April 22, 2015. (Xinhua/AFP)

KIEV, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine, which currently imports natural gas, aims to turn into gas exporter by 2025, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said on Thursday.

"We want to become a gas producing country that satisfies its own needs and exports. We can do it by 2025," Groysman was quoted as saying by the government's press service.

Ukraine, which has vast gas reserves, owns a powerful gas transit system capable of pumping up to 146 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe annually, Groysman said, noting that to become gas exporter Ukraine needs foreign investment.

Last year, the East European country consumed 32.2 billion cubic meters of gas, of which 20.8 billion cubic meters were produced domestically.

Ukraine's potential natural gas reserves are estimated at 5.6 trillion cubic meters, with an extractable amount of 924 billion cubic meters.