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Russian aggression, in particular the effective protection of Ukraine's interests in relations with Gazprom, is not a priority now," Vitrenko said on Facebook.
Vitrenko has been a key figure at the company in recent years and won widespread praise for his role in negotiations with Russia. The agreement to secure a new transit deal with Russia was signed at the eleventh hour in December in defiance of widely held expectations that the talks would fail. Both companies had built up massive reserves of gas in storage in preparation for another round of the “gas wars” where Russia cuts gas supplies via Ukraine off completely.
Vitrenko relentlessly toured European capitals to lobby for maximum pressure on Russia to sign off on a new deal and pay up on the $2.6bn the Stockholm's arbitration court fine imposed on Gazprom to pay compensation of $2.6bn to Naftogaz in December 2017.
The sacking is part of a quiet management shake up at the company.
The company recently promoted its transition officer Otto Waterlander to the post of Chief Operating Officer.
“Otto Waterlander has intensified and actually restarted the transformation process of the Naftogaz Group for the time that he joined our team. He has proved that global corporate solutions and standards can and should work in a Ukrainian state-owned company. Therefore, we expect that with new Otto’s authority will help Naftogaz become a partner for the shareholder and business, who is a true lawmaker of new work standards,” Kobolev, chairman of the board of Naftogaz-Ukraine, said in a statement last week.
A native of Holland, Waterlander worked for Royal Dutch Shell in 1990s, then the energy practice at Booz Allen Hamilton. Before joining Naftogaz in January, he was a senior partner at McKinsey & Company where he co-led the global oil and gas practice.
Last week the management also dissolved the Integrated Gas Business division and instead created an Exploration and Production division and a Commercial division.
The dissolution of the Integrated Gas Business division is due to the need to adapt structures to new market conditions and focus on gas sales to end consumers after the cancellation of Public Service Obligations (PSO) from 1 July 2020, the company said in an statement on May 9.
“Among the primary functions of the Commercial division are developing the gas retail segment, developing trading activities, and building effective natural gas sales channels. The Exploration and Production division will be responsible for the exploration and production of natural gas and liquid hydrocarbons, effective investments, and the growth of proven reserves in the Naftogaz portfolio,” the company added. Both of the new divisions will be under the control of Waterlander.
“There will be two teams and two leaders within the group. Each will focus on their domain. By doing so, we want to increase efficiency,” Waterlander said in the statement.
13 UKRAINE Country Report June 2020 www.intellinews.com
