You're reading: Yatsenyuk insists on creation of vertically integrated oil company

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has insisted on the creation of a vertically integrated oil company on the basis of oil producer Ukrnafta, oil transportation system operator Ukrtransnafta, and oil refinery Ukrtatnafta, which operates Kremenchuk oil refinery.

“We’ve got an incredible asset in our hands that is worth tens of billions of dollars: Ukrtransnafta is owned by the state, there is a 51 percent state stake in Ukrnafta with 49 percent belonging to a private stockholder, and Ukrtatnafta where the state owns 43 percent and 57 percent belongs to a private stockholder,” Yatsenyuk said at an Energy and Coal Industry Ministry board meeting in Kyiv on July 7.

In his words, wiser heads would have acted quicker to use such a situation to decide on the creation of a vertically integrated company to boost oil and fuel production, transportation, and enhance energy independence of the country.

Yatsenyuk ordered Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn and Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO Andriy Kobolev to hold talks with the private stockholders of the said companies on the establishment of a Joint Oil Company of Ukraine.

The Privat Group is the largest of the private stockholders. Naftogaz is an authorized state stockholder of the three companies, acting on behalf of the state.