Total operating tax payments (excluding fuel excise taxes and customs duties) in January–June 2026 amounted to 8.727 billion UAH, which is 15.8% more than in the same period of 2025 and 58% more than in the first half of 2024.
This was reported by Serhiy Kuyun, director of the “A-95 Consulting Group,” citing data from the Verkhovna Rada’s Temporary Investigative Commission on Economic Security.
“Perhaps the most telling indicator of fuel chains’ gradual emergence from the ‘shadow economy’ is the trend in the payment of ‘wage’ taxes (personal income tax and unified social tax) and, accordingly, the growth in official salaries,” – he wrote in “DT” on October 20.
Overall, according to the expert, payroll tax payments among the top 40 gas station chains rose by 82%—from 1.993 billion to 3.618 billion hryvnias in the first half of 2024 and 2026, respectively. And the average calculated salary of employees for the comparable periods increased from 12,100 to 22,700 UAH per month, or by 88%.
“These figures indicate that just two years ago, this industry predominantly paid ‘under the table.’ There were those who officially paid even less than the state-mandated minimum wage. However, some progress has been made,” Kuyun noted.
According to him, the market was forced to revise its “wage” practices in 2025, when “economic” retention of employees began, particularly for companies in the fuel and energy sector. One of the criteria is an official salary per legal entity of at least 20,000 UAH, which the government raised on September 1 of this year to three times the minimum wage—25,941 UAH.
As the expert explained, another interesting indicator of the fuel market is the income tax (IT), which, until December 2024, the vast majority of gas station chains either did not pay at all or paid only a nominal amount. It is for this very reason that the government and parliament established a fixed fee—an advance payment on corporate income tax that is non-refundable regardless of business performance. The base payment is 60,000 UAH per month, which applies to many fuel stations.
“The result speaks for itself: in the first half of 2026, the top 40 chains paid 1.72 billion UAH in corporate income tax (CIT), which is 70% more than during the same period in 2024—that is, before the advance CIT was introduced,” emphasized the director of “A-95.”
According to him, the situation in the industry is currently deteriorating due to intensified attacks by the aggressor, as well as damage to and destruction of assets. At the same time, government pressure on fuel prices is becoming increasingly evident. Statistics show that, despite rising costs, gas stations’ markups on diesel and gasoline remained stable from 2024 to 2026.
“All of this could lead to a decline in tax revenue. On the other hand, as the figures show, there is potential for further reduction of the shadow economy,” Kuyun believes.
A-95, FUEL, GAS STATIONS, reduction of the shadow economy, SALARY, TAXES, КУЮН
UKRNAFTA is conducting an open market survey and invites qualified contractors to submit commercial proposals for performing security work at the company’s gas stations.
This involves 72 facilities in the Kyiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kirovohrad, Chernihiv, Poltava, Zhytomyr, and Kharkiv regions.
The tender is being conducted on the SmartTender platform.
Proposals will be accepted until 3:00 PM on October 19, 2026.
Technical documentation and detailed terms of participation are published on the SmartTender platform.
For more details, see this link.
We look forward to receiving your proposals!
JSC “Ukrnafta” is Ukraine’s largest oil-producing company and operates the country’s largest national network of gas stations—UKRNAFTA. In 2024, the company entered into an asset management agreement with Glusco. In 2025, it finalized a deal with Shell Overseas Investments BV to acquire the Shell network in Ukraine. In total, it operates approximately 650 gas stations.
The company is implementing a comprehensive program to resume operations and modernize the format of the gas stations in its network. Since February 2023, it has been issuing its own fuel vouchers and “NAFTACard” cards, which are sold to legal entities and individuals through Ukrnafta-Postach LLC.
The largest shareholder of Ukrnafta is NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, with a stake of 50% plus one share.
In November 2022, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to transfer to the state the portion of the company’s corporate rights previously held by private owners; the company is now managed by the Ministry of Defense.
Ukrainian gas station chains are not yet fully passing on the increased costs resulting from Russian attacks to consumers, instead offsetting them by reducing their own profitability; however, the ability to keep prices in check in this way is limited, according to Serhiy Kuyun, director of the A-95 Consulting Group.
As the expert reported on his Facebook page, “A-95” specialists compared retail prices for gasoline and diesel fuel with their customs value over the past three years.
The resulting difference includes gas stations’ logistics and operating costs, as well as operators’ profits. According to “A-95” calculations, in 2026 this markup did not increase but actually decreased slightly compared to the previous year, despite a significant rise in fuel companies’ expenses.
Among the additional costs, Kuyun cites the restoration of damaged gas stations and the strengthening of their security. According to him, installing an anti-drone protective structure over a single gas station can cost about €100,000, while building a temporary shelter can cost 1–1.2 million UAH.
At the same time, personnel costs are rising. According to data from the State Tax Service cited by the expert, the official salaries of employees at the 40 largest gas station chains have increased by 20% over the past year. Additional expenses arise from the need to organize work schedules and staff rotations in frontline regions.
“In other words, the stability of the markup was achieved by reducing profits,” Kuyun noted.
According to his assessment, the most difficult economic situation has developed in the left-bank region of Ukraine. The cost of delivering fuel there is higher than in the western and southern border regions, while there is virtually no significant regional variation in retail prices.
National chains can partially offset the low profitability of such gas stations through more efficient stations in other regions. For small local operators in the east of the country, this option is often unavailable.
According to Kuyun, some local gas stations are currently operating with zero or negative profitability. The expert attributes this to why some gas stations damaged by Russian drones are not being rebuilt: investments in repairs may not pay off given the current economic situation.
A further negative factor is the decline in fuel sales. Kuyun attributes this both to the impact of attacks on Ukrainian industry and the resulting drop in consumption, as well as to the high cost of petroleum products on the global market.
According to the expert, for now, fuel retailers are effectively absorbing part of the rising costs using their own revenues, rather than passing them on entirely to the final price of gasoline and diesel fuel.
However, this situation cannot last indefinitely.
“It’s hard to say how much longer fuel retailers will be able to absorb these price increases using their own revenues. I think it won’t be long,” Kuyun noted.
Thus, future price trends at Ukrainian gas stations will depend not only on global oil and petroleum product prices and the exchange rate, but also on operators’ ability to offset rising costs related to logistics, security, infrastructure restoration, and personnel.
Source: Serhiy Kuyun — Facebook post.
The OKKO network remains the largest importer of automotive gasoline into Ukraine: in August 2026, the company imported 46,100 metric tons of fuel, and 302,000 metric tons since the beginning of the year, according to data from the A-95 Consulting Group. OKKO accounts for about 27% of all Ukrainian gasoline imports since the beginning of the year.
The next group of largest suppliers consists of WOG, UPG, and “Ukrnafta.”
In August, WOG imported 20,200 metric tons of gasoline, UPG—20,000 metric tons, and “Ukrnafta” imported 19,400 metric tons.
Next are “BRSM-Nafta” with 7,000 metric tons, Amic with 3,400 metric tons, and “Avantage” with 3,100 metric tons.
Gaztrim and KLO each imported 2,400 metric tons, and Bars 2000 imported 2,200 metric tons.
Other market participants accounted for 26,100 metric tons.
In total, Ukraine imported 152,000 metric tons of motor gasoline in August.
The largest countries of origin for the fuel were Lithuania—51,800 metric tons—and Poland—40,100 metric tons. The ORLEN Group supplied more than half of August’s imports.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has so far rejected the idea of mobile gas stations in order to protect consumers from low-quality fuel and avoid risks related to tax payments, but gas station operating schedules will be revised, according to Serhiy Kuyun, director of the consulting firm “A-95.”
“The idea of mobile gas stations has been put on hold to avoid facing the situation currently unfolding in Russia, where many people no longer drive anywhere due to the authorization to sell low-quality fuel. Moreover, the state’s need for fuel taxes hasn’t gone away, and in this chaos, it will be even harder to collect them,” Kuyun wrote on his Facebook page on Friday.
At the same time, as he noted, certain measures regarding gas station operations under shelling were discussed at a recent meeting with the prime minister.
“At the meeting, representatives of the gas station network assured that they would continue operating, as they have gradually adapted to the new realities. But operating hours will obviously be changed (shortened), and service operations in dangerous areas will be temporarily suspended… The less often and the less time you spend at a gas station, the better,” Kuyun noted.
He also noted that the issue of fuel delivery remains critical, as the enemy has begun targeting fuel tankers.
The director of “A-95” noted that, according to estimates, up to 200 gas stations and oil depots have already been damaged, including four oil depots and nine “OKKO” gas stations, 22 “WOG” facilities, and 12 “Ukrnafta” facilities.
As previously reported, on July 7, the Prime Minister of Ukraine held a meeting with oil traders to discuss the necessary measures to ensure continued fuel supplies to frontline regions amid ongoing Russian attacks on gas stations and fuel complexes.
At the time, Danylo Getmantsev, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada’s Tax Committee, noted following the meeting that the government and market representatives have a clear plan of action to ensure uninterrupted supplies and prevent losses. He also announced that the necessary decisions would be adopted in the near future.
Fuel prices in Ukraine continue to decline—this applies primarily to diesel, which has dropped by another 1–3 UAH per liter over the past five days, according to price monitoring at select gas station chains conducted by Energoreforma.
According to the report, natural gas prices have also fallen by up to 1 UAH per liter.
Gasoline prices remain stable, at the same level as on June 17.
According to calculations by Serhiy Kuyun, director of the consulting firm “A-95,” the price of diesel fuel has already dropped by more than 12 UAH per liter from its peak of over 90 UAH per liter.
He noted that at the start of the crisis, the price of diesel fuel was 62 UAH per liter.
The expert also pointed out that smaller retail chains, which do not have remaining stocks of fuel purchased at high prices, are lowering their prices more aggressively.
Regarding gasoline, Kuyun explained that there is no noticeable downward trend, since the difference between the purchase price (customs value) and the retail price during the “Iranian crisis” only returned to its pre-crisis February level in June.
“In other words, there are no excess profits that could explain the slowdown in price reductions. Gasoline margins have completely collapsed, which is why prices aren’t really falling. Gas stations’ finances are currently being propped up by diesel, though that doesn’t prevent diesel prices from falling sharply,” Kuyun wrote.
At the same time, the director of “A-95” emphasized that Russian attacks on gas station networks continue, and these losses are also putting pressure on their finances.
“Last week, one of the major chains lost an oil depot containing $1.5 million worth of fuel. Another chain reports that it suffers 15–20 ‘lightning strikes’ every week in frontline regions. WOG has already lost 6–7 gas stations, each worth $1 million. Gasoline and natural gas tankers are burning,” Kuyun described the situation.
He also noted that there had been an initiative to create a fund to compensate for these losses, but so far there are no sources of funding for it.
Kuyun pointed out that current global prices are not the only factor in pricing, but given the level of competition and the large number of gas stations, supply sources, and logistical capabilities in the Ukrainian market, in his opinion, there is no chance of operating under any rules other than market ones.
For his part, Volodymyr Omelchenko, director of energy and infrastructure programs at the Razumkov Center, noted that autogas is once again becoming more cost-effective than gasoline, having dropped by more than 5 UAH/liter in one month and more than 7 UAH/liter in two months.
Meanwhile, gasoline prices fell by only 1.1 UAH per liter over the same period. He noted that currently, a liter of LPG costs approximately 56% of the price of a liter of A-95.
Omelchenko attributed this, in particular, to a decline in the wholesale price of LPG, which fell by 3.46 UAH per liter over the past month.
According to him, propane and butane prices have fallen in Europe, and the import parity for LPG has also declined since its April peak. As of June 19, it stood at 34.43 UAH per liter, compared to 40.95 UAH per liter on April 16.
However, he also noted that the price cap at gas stations is determined not only by European quotations but also by the influence of wholesale prices, logistics, taxes, exchange rates, security risks, and the safety margins of the networks themselves.
“Therefore, a decrease in external prices does not always immediately translate into an equivalent decrease at the retail level,” Omelchenko said.
As previously reported, fuel prices in Ukraine began to decline around mid-June amid reports of a stabilizing situation in the Middle East and falling oil prices. On June 19, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, convened fuel market participants to discuss the situation.
He drew their attention to the fact that over the past few weeks, global markets have seen a significant drop in prices for crude oil and petroleum products, but in Ukraine, the pace of decline in retail fuel prices remains significantly slower than the pace of their previous rise.
Market participants were asked to provide further explanations regarding the reasons for the slower decline in petroleum product prices compared to their previous rapid rise, as well as the factors influencing how quickly lower petroleum product costs are reflected in prices for end consumers.
On June 17, Natalia Nikeshina, marketing director of the national network of gas stations operating under the Parallel brand, predicted that the potential for price reductions ranges from 6 UAH to 12 UAH per liter. According to her, the largest drop can be expected if European prices do indeed fall to pre-crisis levels.
