Page 13 - bne_newspaper_August_02_2019

Eastern Europe
August 2, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 13
Battered Odesa Port Plant seeks to resume operations in August
Ukraine's battered Odesa Port Plant (OPP) plans to resume operations in early August, the company's deputy director on economic and financial issues Volodymyr Vakeryak said in July 29.
The plant has been standing idle since late April 2018. OPP's debts for supplied natural gas before the nation's state-owned natural gas monopoly Naftogaz exceed UAH1.5bn ($60mn) plus penalties.
Ukrainian and foreign investors have had no interest in privatisation of OPP over the past years due to its disastrous financial conditions, despite the fact that former Ukrainian economy minister Aivaras Abromavicius was trying to present OPP as a crown jewel of the country's privatisation.
In 2018, the starting price in the privatisation of OPP has been cut by 10-times to $54mn, however, even now there are serious doubts that the government will be able to sell its 99.567% stake in OPP. In December 2017, Kyiv failed to sell the stake via a second privatisation tender.
On July 29, Ukrainian company Agro Gas Trading said that the contract with the plant was signed by December 1, and foresees delivery of minimum
240mn cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas to OPP within four months.
Deputy head of the State Property Fund (SPF) Yevhen Astashev said that Naftogaz gave a green light to resuming of the works despite plant's debts worth UAH1.5bn plus penalties, according to Interfax.
The plant for its part is obliged to pay off the debts to Naftogaz sharing profits received from Agro Gas Trading for providing processing services ($1.5 per each carbamide tonne and $1 per each ammonia tonne).
In 2018, OPP almost halved net loss year-on-year to UAH750mn.
In February, head of Odesa regional state administration Maksym Stepanov said that OPP could be transferred to the management or lease to the nation's state-owned natural gas monopoly Naftogaz or the Agrarian Fund.
According to the official, such measures will con- tribute to the launch of the plant "not for a month or two, but for a long time", Interfax news agency reported on February 22. Stepanov added that pos- sible transfer of the plant to the management or lease to the Agrarian Fund was discussed with the government in Kyiv earlier this month.