Having won his battle to remain head of Naftogaz, albeit for just a year, Andriy Kobolyev is now facing renewed attempts to undermine his influence on Ukraine’s oil and gas industry.
Kobolyev will no longer chair the supervisory board of Ukrnafta, according to a posting on the state oil and gas production company’s website. Naftogaz owns a 50 percent plus one share stake in Ukrnafta, while Privat Group, connected to oligarch Igor Kolmoisky, holds a 42 percent stake.
Kobolyev has been a member of Ukrnafta’s supervisory board since 2014. His absence was noted on the official website of the company ahead of an upcoming shareholders’ meeting scheduled to take place on March 28.
The website said Naftogaz would be represented by current supervisory board members Yuriy Vitrenko, Yaroslav Teklyuk and Polina Zagnitko
Both Naftogaz and Privat Group are to nominate three new members each for Ukrnafta’s 11-members supervisory board, who are supposed to be independent from the two major stakeholders.
Kobolyev’s ouster comes after it was announced that U.K. citizen Mark Rollins, Ukrnafta’s chairman since 2015, is also being dismissed from his position – he will be replaced by Oleg Gez.
The meeting of March 28 was called – among other things – to address the issue of Rollins’ dismissal among other things.
Kobolyev and Naftogaz’s supervisory board have recently been the targets of sharp criticism from Ukrainian Prime Minister Voldoymyr Groysman over their large salaries and failure to increase Ukraine’s natural gas production.
After raising doubts that Kobolyev would keep his job at Naftogaz, Groysman finally announced the extension of Kobolyev’s contract on March 20.
Under his new contract, Kobolyev’s salary has been halved to $450,000. During what may be his last year as head of Naftogaz, he has declared that his top priorities will be to eliminate gas market intermediaries, increase gas production and Naftogaz’s revenues, unbundle Ukraine’s massive gas transmission network to stimulate a competitive market, and help the nation become self-sufficient in energy.
Note: an earlier version of this article stated that Kobolyev was no longer chairman of the supervisory board. In fact, he is still currently chairman but is not to be renominated for this post. Also, the 11-members supervisory board will be made-up of three Naftogaz appointees, two Privat Group appointees and six independent members – three each nominated by Naftogaz and Privat Group.
