Page 71 - UKRRptDec21

9.2 Major corporate news 9.2.1 Oil & gas corporate news
Ukrtransgaz has joined an international hydrogen production project in western Ukraine, announced the company's CEO, Serhiy Pereloma. Ukrstransgaz signed a memorandum with several partners to implement a project to produce hydrogen. The Ukrainian gas storage operator joined the international hydrogen production project in Ukraine, “H2EU + Store”. Representatives of RAG Austria, GAS CONNECT AUSTRIA, Bayerngas, Bayer, Open Grid Europe, Eustream, Nafta signed the MOU. The initiative was supported by Naftogaz of Ukraine, the GTS Operator of Ukraine, and Eco-Optima on the Ukrainian side.
Naftogaz breaks gas contract with Firtash’s Ye Energy, says it could have cost taxpayers $4bn. Naftogaz announced on November 26 that it broke its contract to supply 6bn cubic meters of gas, approximately 15% of Ukraine’s annual consumption, to oligarch Dmytro Firtash’s Ye Energy. The state-owned oil and gas giant’s communications director, Maksym Bilyavskyi, estimated that Naftogaz could have lost $4bn in revenue. According to Bilyavskyi, Naftogaz was supposed to sell gas to Ye Energy for $0.27 per cubic meter, which is too low. In July, Ukrainska Pravda reported that Ye Energy was planning to sell the gas to industrial consumers for a lot more. In November, gas traded at an average $1.33 per cubic meter. Firtash has lived under house arrest in Vienna since 2014 after being indicted for bribery by the US government.
Naftogaz records $91mn profit in third quarter of 2021. The company’s announcement highlighted the improvement compared to the third quarter of 2020, when the state-owned oil and gas giant lost $66mn. This is also the first quarter in 2021 in which Naftogaz registered a profit, having lost $62mn from January to June. Andriy Kobolev, Naftogaz’s previous CEO, accused the incumbent management of “playing a trick” with the company’s previous financial report in an interview with online media outlet LB.ua on November 8. Kobolev, who was fired by the Cabinet of Ministers in April and subsequently fell out publicly with his replacement Yuriy Vitrenko, said that the current team did not release a report on the first quarter of 2021 in order to hide subsequent losses. Naftogaz said it would publish the audited financial statements for 2021 in 2022 within the timeframe required by law.
9.2.2 Automotive corporate news
The Mayor of Lviv is in talks with the EBRD Vice Presidents Alan Pius and Mark Bowman to discuss building a plant to manufacture electric vehicles. “We are strengthening our relationship with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development”, said the Mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi. “We already have nine successful projects that have made it possible to attract €140 mln of investments for Lviv. We decided not to wait for the state to create the necessary conditions but to act ahead. Lviv will be the first city in Ukraine to invite producers to cooperate”, concluded Sadovyi.
71 UKRAINE Country Report December 2021 www.intellinews.com