Ukraine’s government authorized the Finance Ministry to provide “absolute and unconditional guarantees” for restructuring the foreign debt of state-run energy company Naftogaz Ukrainy.

The guarantees will be provided once Naftogaz agrees on restructuring terms with creditors, the Finance Ministry said in a statement published on its web site on Monday. The “optimal term” for guarantees on restructured eurobond debt would be about five years, the ministry said.

Naftogaz, which is in loan talks with the European Union to secure funds for purchases of Russian gas, needs to pay $500 million on eurobonds by Sept. 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In July, the government of Yulia Tymoshenko urged the company to restructure the debt.