Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

Glusco gas station network transferred to Ukrnafta’s management

13 September , 2023  

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has appointed Ukrnafta PJSC as the asset manager of the Glusco gas station network, Naftohaz Ukrayiny’s board head Oleksiy Chernyshov has said.

“Also the Cabinet set the task to settle the issue of reimbursement of expenses incurred by Naftogaz Oil Trading LLC (“NOT”, a network of gas stations U.GO), which was engaged in restarting the arrested commercial assets of Medvedchuk”, – he specified on his page in Facebook.

As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in May 2022 agreed the proposal of ARMA to transfer to the management of NJSC “Naftogaz of Ukraine” arrested assets of the company Glusco (until 2018 – the network of NK “Rosneft”), which were associated with Viktor Medvedchuk,
NOT was identified as the asset manager, with which ARMA subsequently entered into a fixed-term management agreement.

At the end of July 2023, ARMA head Olena Duma said that the National Agency would conduct audits of the efficiency of management of the largest assets, and the audit of the efficiency of Naftogaz’s management of the Glusco network of gas stations has already begun.
In early August, ARMA announced the termination of contracts with NOT to manage the assets of the Glusco gas station network.

At the same time, Naftogaz said that 81 filling stations and one oil depot, which had been out of operation for a year and a half, were resumed under the management of NOT, and that employees’ salaries were paid in a timely manner. From August 2022 to July 2023, 289 million UAH of mandatory payments to the state and local budgets were paid.

The head of Naftohaz Ukrayiny, Oleksiy Chernyshov, said that during the period of managing the Glusco assets, the group had invested significant funds in restoring the network’s operation, repaid its debts, and, at ARMA’s request, paid them “for some part of future profits, as they are not yet in question”.

On November 5, 2022, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief decided to seize the shares of Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta (except for the controlling and blocking stakes in Naftogaz Ukrainy, respectively) from the state as military property for the duration of martial law. Prior to the seizure, the structures of Ihor Kolomoyskyy and Hennadiy Boholyubov owned about 42% of Ukrnafta shares and, together with other partners, a controlling stake in Ukrtatnafta.