Page 18 - FSUOGM Week 06 2021

FSUOGM NEWS IN BRIEF FSUOGM

exceed to $200 per 1,000 cubic metres in government, Justice Minister Denys such as the state procurement of oil, a high-
2021, Alexander Invannikov, head of the Malyuska reported on February 4. In level Ukrainian official told bne IntelliNews,
company’s financial department, said in a particular, the court decided that it has no among other schemes.
conference call on February 9. jurisdiction to hear the claim, Malyuska “Kolomoisky, as a powerful minority
“The budget we approved in December wrote, calling the event as “super mega shareholder in Ukrnafta, was always a
2020 was built on an export price of around victory." headache for Naftogaz, so the intention of
$170 per 1,000 cubic meters, but now, given This comes after one day when The the state company to divorce itself from
the results of January, we may definitely Ukrainian government started the this group is natural. If the separation
say that we expect the average annual separation process of national gas company happens, this will add stability to Naftogaz's
export price for gas of $200 plus. I mean Naftogaz and Ukrnafta on February 3. operations. However, the process does not
significantly above $200, which exceeds The size of the claim had exceeded $6bn, promise to be fast: most likely it will take
previous pricing guidelines and scenarios which Ukrnafta shareholders (three Cypriot a couple of years,” Alexander Paraschiy of
included in the budget for next year by companies controlled by Ihor Kolomoisky Concorde Capital said in a note.
more than $30,” he said. and Hennadiy Bogolyubov, owning a The separation of Naftogaz and Ukrnafta
He also said that the company was 40.1% stake) had demanded from Ukraine. comes only a week after Ukrainian
considering options for reducing 2021 The claim was related to compensation of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy launched
borrowing and, correspondingly, the minorities’ alleged losses from Ukrnafta’s an assault on Viktor Medvedchuk, the head
company’s debt burden. unfavourable natural gas price regulation of the Political Council of the Opposition
“We plan a decrease of the debt burden and taxation imposed in late 2000s. The Platform, For Life Party, by closing down
in 2021, if we see stable high gas prices in initial size of the claim was $4.7bn, as was several TV stations associated with the
Europe. We are considering cutting the reported in 2016. Ukrainian politician, who is a close personal
debt planned for 2021 and in general the Interestingly, according to the zn.ua friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
debt burden that Gazprom has today if the news site, the court motivated its dismissal This week Zelenskiy issued sanctions
volumes and prices that are currently on the of the case, amongst other, by its suspicion by presidential decree – which can only
market remain consistent,” he said. that the plaintiffs’ investments in Ukrnafta be challenged by the Supreme Court and
were “tainted by bribery and corruption.” not the corrupt regular courts that are
“Taking into account the size of under the control of the oligarchs – against
Lukoil says oil output rises potential losses of Ukraine from the case, pro-Moscow MP Taras Kozak, who is
the nominal owner of the TV stations
this is indeed a big victory of Ukrainian
by 2.8% in Oct-Dec government. Besides removal of a risk of associated with Medvedchuk.
Medvedchuk is also partnered with
huge payments from the state budget to
Oil production of Russian oil company Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov, the court’s Kolomoisky and owns just under 25% of
Lukoil grew by 2.8% on the quarter to 18.8 ruling increases leverage of Naftogaz in its his media empire that includes the major
mn tonnes in October–December 2020, the upcoming negotiations on Ukrnafta’s assets broadcaster 1+1. Kolomoisky has been
company said in a statement on February 8. separation between the government and the credited with putting Zelenskiy into office
In the whole of 2020, production minority shareholders,” an analyst at the by using his media assets to back Zelenskiy's
decreased by 10% on the year to 77.206mn Kyiv-based Concorde Capital brokerage said presidential campaign in 2019; however,
tonnes, excluding production on the West in a research note. it increasingly appears the two have fallen
Qurna-2 field in Iraq on the back of an out as Kolomoisky lobbies to reverse the
OPEC+ agreement signed in April 2020, nationalisation of PrivatBank that he owned
which led to production cuts. Naftogaz initiates split until 2016.
The OPEC+ countries agreed to reduce As bne IntelliNews reported, all of the
their oil output by 9.7mn barrels per day of Ukrnafta amid risk of countries of the Former Soviet Union (FSU)
in May 2020 to fight the consequences of are suffering from “The Oligarch Problem”,
the global coronavirus crisis, with Russia’s multi-billion claims from which is especially bad in Ukraine.
share of 2.5mn barrels per day. The cut Analysts speculate that following the
was narrowed to 7.7mn barrels per day minorities first call with the newly installed Biden
for August–December 2020, and then to administration in the US, Zelenskiy has
5.8mn barrels per day until May 2022. The The CEO of Ukraine’s national gas company been promised support as part of the US
agreement is valid until April 30, 2022, but Naftogaz, Andriy Kobolev, has started the campaign to meet what it sees as a Russian
the members will revise its extension in process of separating the gas company from threat, but at the same time Washington
December 2021. Ukraine’s leading oil company Ukrnafta wants to see some results in the fight against
as the battle between the state and the corruption in Ukraine that is embodied by
oligarchs heats up. the oligarchs.
Kobolev sent a letter to the supervisory Naftogaz owns 50%+1 shares in Ukrnafta
EASTERN EUROPE board asking its members to “study the and wants the board to consider dividing
possibility of dividing the company’s assets the company by business directions to
Stockholm Arbitration court between two groups of shareholders,” further separate Naftogaz from a group of
minority shareholders that are related to
Interfax-Ukraine reported on February 3.
dismisses claim of Ukrnafta government’s recent attempts to rein in Kolomoisky, who owns with his partners at
The move is the latest in the
least a 41% stake in the company.
minorities to Ukraine the country’s powerful oligarchs that have creation of a working group for the asset
In his letter, Kobolev asks for the
inserted themselves into the structures of
After six years of litigation in Stockholm many of Ukraine’s most valuable assets. split, the hiring of one of the big-four audit
Arbitration, the court dismissed the claim Oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky is a major companies to undertake an assets valuation
of three Ukrnafta (UNAF UK) minority shareholder in Ukrnafta and has run scams and the appointment of a legal advisor
shareholders against the Ukrainian in the past to siphon off cash from things that will conduct the process, Concorde

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