The government's decisions to sell gas to chemical and metallurgical companies, and religious organizations at reduced prices and cuts in subsidies that compensate for the difference between the price of imported gas and the price at which it is sold to heat supplying companies will cost NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy UAH 1.73 billion September through December 2009.
This opinion was aired by Oleksandr Shlapak, the first deputy head
of the Ukrainian presidential secretariat, at a briefing in Kyiv on
Friday.
He said the government, on the one hand, is in talks on
restructuring Naftogaz’s foreign debt worth $1.7 billion against state
guarantees, and on the other hand, it is pushing the oil and gas
company to the edge of bankruptcy.
According to Shlapak, a reduction in the gas price for religious organizations will cost Naftogaz UAH 167.2 million.
He said that government resolution No. 1005 dated September 23, 2009
on the review of the price difference subsidizing formula will deprive
Naftogaz of UAH 995.4 million.
Under this document, the government sets the price of imported gas
at $179.50 per 1,000 cubic meters, whereas the real average price of
imported gas this year is about $232 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Shlapak also said that in addition to the above-mentioned blows to
Naftogaz’s financial condition, the National Electricity Regulatory
Commission, abiding by a government’s decision, reduced gas prices for
chemical producers (UAH 566.7 million), and the planned increase in gas
prices for households and heat suppliers has been blocked in courts.
He also said that Naftogaz would fall short of another UAH 242
million because of zero gas duties for chemical and metallurgical
companies.
The presidential secretariat’s representative emphasized that
presently, Naftogaz is in technical default, as it has failed to repay
its eurobonds.
According to Shlapak, Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko supports
the company’s efforts to restructure its foreign debt for five years.
However, he said, the real way out of the plight in which the company
currently finds itself should be the sweeping reform of the gas sector.
