BRUSSELS, November 18 (RIA Novosti) - European Union countries are well prepared to deal with any gas supply shortages, the EU gas coordination group said after its Wednesday's meeting in Brussels.

European experts said they recorded "full levels of storages in almost all member states," and a number of short-term commercial agreements to deal with any emergency was in place in the countries that were most affected by last January's gas crisis.

The EU energy commissioner, Andris Piebalgs said on Tuesday that European gas storage facilities were 100% full, and a plan to deal with any emergency concerning gas supplies had been prepared.

Russia and the European Union signed on Monday a memorandum on an early warning mechanism to protect Europe from potential energy supply cuts in case of a gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine at the start of the year.

The document, signed by Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko and EU's Piebalgs, says each side should warn the other of any possible disruption of fuel in order to jointly deal with the problem.

Russia's Gazprom briefly cut off supplies to Ukraine on January 1, 2009 amid a bitter gas pricing and debt dispute, suspending transits to the European Union seven days later in the absence of a new contract with the ex-Soviet neighbor.

The conflict was resolved on January 19, when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko, agreed deals on deliveries to and gas transit through Ukraine for 2009. Ukraine transits around 80% of Russia's Europe-bound gas.

The EU energy commissioner said he hoped there would be no repeat of gas supply interruptions.

"I hope Ukraine will pay for gas," Piebalgs said, adding that the IMF's loan to Ukraine would help the ex-Soviet republic honor its payment commitments.