EBRD, Norway Provide $150M to Naftogaz to Purchase Gas

The Norwegian government will provide €138.6 million ($149.6 million) in grants for Ukraine’s state-owned gas production company Naftogaz to import gas to secure heating and electricity for households, businesses and industry.

The financing, €85 million and €53.6 million in two grants ($91.5 million and 57.7 million respectively), will be provided through the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). 

Naftogaz had just repaid another €200 million EBRD loan ($215.3 million), EBRD wrote in its press release. 

“It will raise the total grant support from Norway via the CRSF to Naftogaz to over NOK 3.6 billion (€330 million, $355.4million),” EBRD estimated. 

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to invest €1.5 billion ($1.54 billion) in Ukraine in 2025, Arvid Tuerkner, the EBRD’s managing director for Ukraine and Moldova, told Bloomberg in a zoom interview.

Portfolio risk sharing has become the bestseller instrument for the EBRD inside Ukraine. 

Previously, it was aimed at the agricultural sector and small and midsize enterprises (SMEs), but after Russia’s strikes, on energy facilities.

Kyiv Post previously wrote about the launch of a €700 million portfolio risk-sharing program with Ukrainian banks – the Energy Security Support Facility.

The EBRD’s president is often visiting Kyiv, as the bank feels optimistic about financing projects in Ukraine, even close to the frontline, working with municipalities in Kharkiv.

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“EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv in February to underline the Bank’s determination to support Ukraine and its people,” EBRD wrote.