The Cabinet of Ministers appointed Andriy Kobolev as head of Naftogaz, the national oil and gas monopoly, during an overnight March 25 meeting.
“It is not the best candidate for this position, but
not the worst either,” says Volodymyr Omelchenko, leading energy analyst for
Razumkov Center.
A lot will depend on who will take other senior
managing positions at Naftogaz, adds Yuriy Korolchuk, Institute of Energy
Strategies’ expert.
Previous Naftogaz chief executive officer Evgen
Bakulin was arrested on March 21 after the Interior Ministry launched
investigation of the criminal schemes within Ukrainian gas industry. Police
suspects him of stealing significant amounts of company’s money. Bakulin had
been keeping the office since March 2010, soon after Viktor Yanukovych became
country’s president.
Kobolev received master’s degree in foreign economic
relations from Kyiv Taras Shevchenko University in 2000. He has strong
financial background, having worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers global audit
company and investment house AYA Securities, owned by Yuriy Vitrenko, son of
pro-Russian politician Nataliya Vitrenko who ran for presidency in 2004. Kobolev
and Vitrenko participated in purchasing the debts of Vugillya Ukrainy, state
coal company, at bottom prices. Yanukovych planned to liquidate the company in
2015.
In 2002-2010 Kobolev held several positions at
Naftogaz and dealt with corporate finance and pricing. He is close to Yulia
Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna political party and is not seen as an independent
figure who will make own decisions.
One of the former Naftogaz senior managers told the
Kyiv Post that the position of monopoly’s CEO has been offered to Igor Didenko,
who already held it in 2000; Ivan Varga, who worked for Gaz Ukrainy, Naftogaz’s
subsidiary; several managers of Ukrtransgaz, another Naftogaz’s unit that is in
charge of country’s gas transportation system, and local gas traders. All of
them refused to accept this offer.
Current appointment is rather temporary and the tasks
to be completed are quite challenging, that is why there are not too many
qualified managers willing to take the position.
Analysts unanimously agree that newly appointed oil
and gas giant’s CEO will have to conduct a huge amount of work regarding
company’s debts. So far, Naftogaz owes Russia’s Gazprom $2 billion for the gas
supplies and has to repay the eurobond worth $1.4 billion in September.
“I don’t think that restructuring of these debts will occur.
Investors will push Naftogaz to do all the repayments,” emphasizes Institute of
Energy Strategies’ Korolchuk.
Establishing the reverse flow of gas and negotiations
with Gazprom over the amount of gas to be purchased by Ukrainian side are
another key tasks for new Naftogaz CEO.
Company’s net losses grew by 14 percent in 2013 and
reached $1.5 billion. State-owned regional utility companies’ contribution to
the amount of these losses is quite significant as they owe Naftogaz $2.2
billion so far. International Monetary Fund’s policy recommendations for Ukraine
include the reduction of Nagtogaz’s deficit as one of the key demands. On March 3, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said that government plans to privatize Naftogaz.
Kyiv Post
associate business editor Ivan Verstyuk can be reached at
[email protected].
