The Supervisory Board of Naftogaz announced that Sergii Koretskyi is to be appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Naftogaz Group and to take over the role on May 14, Ukraine’s state-owned energy giant reported on Thursday.
Koretskyi is currently CEO of Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta – Ukraine’s largest state-owned group of oil extraction and production companies.
Koretskyi is the former CEO of Ukraine’s largest private oil company, WOG (Continuum Group), where he began in its security department. Koretskyi joined Ukrnafta in 2022 after Ukraine nationalized it from its oligarch owner, Ihor Kolomoisky.
The official reason for nationalization was not disclosed, but Rostyslav Shurma, the former economics advisor to the President’s office, said at the Davos forum that the reason was Kolomoisky’s refusal to supply petroleum products to the army, according to a February 2024 article from Forbes Ukraine. However, a former Ukrnafta CEO, Oleh Hez, denied that Ukraine had made such a request to Ukrnafta.
In the autumn of 2024, Koretskyi reported that Ukrnafta had made Hr.40 billion ($963.6 million) in profits during 2022-2024. As CEO, he also organized the first 3D seismic surveys in a decade, replacing worn-out equipment.
In 2025, Ukrnafta plans to drill around 30 new wells, as well as overhaul and upgrade equipment to intensify production, Ukrayinska Energetyka reported.
Ukraine’s oil market analyst Serhiy Kuyun wrote in 2023 that the company’s profit exceeded its total financial loss over the past 19 years, when Kolomoisky was among Ukrnafta’s shareholders.
Apart from the Continuum Group and WOG, Koretskyi founded Ukraine’s prominent coffee chain, Idealist Coffee Co.
Koretskyi’s education includes degrees in Engineering Mechanics and Business Economics from the Lutsk State Technical University, and in Oil & Gas Engineering from the Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University.
The Naftogaz Supervisory Board appointed the company’s previous acting CEO, Roman Chumak, as Chief Financial Officer. Chumak had succeeded Oleksiy Chernyshov, the current Minister of National Unity, as the head of Naftogaz.
While Chernyshov was CEO, Naftogaz gas storage was not prepared to withstand Russia’s destructive attacks.
Ukraine had sufficient domestic production, though output has remained largely unchanged since 2021, Managing Director of the Energy Industry Research Center (EIR Center) Oleksandr Kharchenko said during a recent CES online event.
“Ukraine filled its gas storage in 2021 based on peacetime standards, assuming there would be no war,” Kharchenko said.
Future outlook
Lack of funding and the risk of speculative price hikes on a global level create a challenge for Naftogaz, and Ukraine’s heating season depends on whether the company succeeds in tackling these difficulties.
Under Chumak, Naftogaz signed an agreement to borrow €270 million ($307 million) from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to finance emergency gas purchases for the next two heating seasons.
The amount of gas Naftogaz will purchase with it is unknown for now, EBRD Vice President Matteo Patrone told Kyiv Post.
“It depends on the price of gas,” he said.