It is important to note that one of the important aspects of preparing for the heating season is the creation of sufficient gas reserves. Throughout the fall, Naftogaz reported that our country's gas supply was secure and we had enough reserves to get through the winter without the need to import gas.
But on November 23, the EBRD provided Naftogaz with a loan of 200 million euros to create strategic gas reserves. In the summer of 2022, there was another 300 million euros from the EBRD to purchase gas and support the liquidity and sustainability of Naftogaz. These loans (not the first and not the last) are an eloquent illustration of the real value of the bravura statements of our oil and gas officials and the trust in them from Western partners. They reported about the planned 15 billion m3 of gas in storage, forgetting to add that even, according to its own reporting, Naftogaz owns only 11 billion m3 of this volume.
“The Group applies a revaluation model to further evaluate property, plant and equipment used in the Group’s core activities,” PWC said in its conclusions to Naftogaz’s 2022 report. Translated from legally correct terms, this means that the management of Naftogaz is engaged in fraud and is trying to replace the catastrophic results of its activities with winning PR.
This is exactly what happens in the issue of “increasing” its own production, which the company reports on. We are hearing reports of a 7-8% increase in production in the first half of the year to 6.7 billion m3, but this is 1.5% compared to the 2022 figure of 6.6 billion m3. Let me remind you that in 2020 the figure exceeded 7.1 billion m3. A low comparative base is a very convenient tool for declaring “wins.” By the way, the same principle is applied in statements about “victory” when imports are reduced, when one “forgets” about such a reason for “victory” as the collapse of GDP and the demand of industrial gas consumers, some of which were simply physically destroyed.
The same applies to gas quality. Mr. Chernyshov makes promises that Ukraine will become the “power bank” of Europe, but Europe is about the sustainable quality of the resource and strict adherence to standards. How can we talk about this when Naftogaz, imitating Gazprom, makes an official statement that the color of the flame does not depend on the quality of the gas. Perhaps the most daring and ridiculous excuse for poor quality. What kind of Europe can we talk about when “suddenly”, so that someone could make money on the rise in the price of autogas and the supply of “left” condensate, there is a simultaneous stop of two HSVs (more than 40% of withdrawals), which significantly affected the liquefied gas market. And gas with a carbon content three times higher than permissible begins to flow into the system? What kind of Europe is Mr. Chernyshov talking about if the total amount of fines for low-quality gas supplied to the GTS during January-October 2023 is UAH 635.5 million - for 6.4 billion cubic meters of low-quality gas supplied? Because someone really wants to both earn money and brag about fulfilling the plan.
And so that there are no unnecessary questions about what is happening under the carpet of this “management”, the creator of the concept of “Paverbank of Europe” has been blocking the election of an independent member of the supervisory board of NAC for a year now. Let me remind you that the competition was announced on December 8, 2022. Today we have an obedient and “blind” Supervisory Board of NAC, the annual bonus of whose members depends on the signature of the Olympic god at the head of Naftogaz, who is not controlled by anyone. Actually, there is no know-how here, Chernyshov only inherits the strategy of his predecessor Kobolev, who slightly more than completely controlled the Supervisory Board very simply by issuing exorbitant bonuses to its members.
Therefore we have a constant structure. Occupation, failures in management (and corruption) and budget holes that are filled with money. Credit, but there are not enough of them, and the issue of lifting the moratorium on increasing gas tariffs for household consumers and aligning them with industrial prices is just now being decided. Which, although they fell in November by 5.4% to 14,381 hryvnia per 1 thousand cubic meters without VAT, had been growing for almost four months before that.
The increase in prices for households will be presented as compliance with the requirements of Western partners and a strict necessity due to the inability to meet the needs of household consumers through domestically produced gas.
And indeed, it is impossible to satisfy the needs of the population while the management of the main state company engaged in gas production, Ukrgasvydobuvannya, includes:
A) Hidden Russian agents
B) Untalented, incompetent managers
c) Corrupt officials.
Moreover, very often all three of these hypostases are combined in the persons who are now at the helm of the State Administration. It is known where fish begins to rot - that means... Oleg Tolmachev, already the second and... per year. A native of Belarus had no work experience in Ukraine until 2021 and provided false and falsified information when applying for a job at NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine. The recruiting company that “found” Tolmachev for Naftogaz indicated that his last place of work was “a private, fast-growing gas production company.” As The Last Bastion found out, we are talking about Eclipse Resources, Irving TX, which, under the leadership of Mr. Tolmachev, went bankrupt and was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. This information was hidden, and Tolmachev was first accepted into Naftogaz, then appointed to the State Administration.
However, what is “impressive” is not only Mr. Tolmachev’s managerial “skills,” but also the presence of his connections with Russia. His mother lives there now. After the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Tolmachev himself visited Russia several times, as evidenced by photos from his social networks, and was inspired by its “great culture,” in particular, the film Brother-2, cosplay scenes from which Mr. Tolmachev taught on his page in Facebook. Mr. Tolmachev’s assistant on special matters was also a Russian citizen, Daria Taranova. The salary received from the Ukrainian budget by a fan of Brother-2 exceeds 2.14 million UAH per month.
Let's move on. The history of the pro-Russian landing in the UGV is continued by Akshin Mehdiev, who currently holds the position of director for drilling and downhole operations at Ukrgasvydobuvannya JSC. It seems that Mr. Mehdiev was hired according to the same patterns as Mr. Tolmachev. As it became known from the “Last Bastion” investigation, Mehdiyev does not have a specialized higher education and did not officially work for more than 4 years before being hired at Ukrgasvydobuvannya JSC.
However, in fact, Mr. Mehdiyev, a citizen of Azerbaijan, out of modesty, hid both his work experience in Russia and the fact that he worked as a senior supervisor in the company of Russian contractors Schlumberger Services Ukraine. The clients of Schlumberger, recognized as an international sponsor of the war, are the largest Russian oil and gas companies Gazprom, Rosneft, LUKoil. For decades, Schlumberger has been supplying Russian clients with equipment for the development of continental and offshore fields.
Mehdiyev also hid the fact of initiating criminal proceedings N6202200000000638 on the fact that Schlumberger Services Ukraine overestimated the cost of construction of well No. 888 of the Shebelinskoye gas condensate field - as the State Antimonopoly Service previously established, with the stated starting cost of UAH 7.0 million. . The cost of engineering support services (for which Mehdiev was responsible) totaled more than 154 million hryvnia.
In the end, Mr. Mehdiyev also holds a position in a state-owned company amid an obvious conflict of interest. Mehdiev remained the owner of the oil and gas business; in British registers he appears as the director of Wellpas LTD (WELLPATH LIMITED), projects in Ukraine are indicated on the website of this company.
Now the question. Why are the state-owned companies headed by mediocre managers born in other countries - Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, who, by a strange coincidence, are connected with Russia? Some of them, for example, ex-Deputy General Director for Exploration and Field Development of UkrGasVydobuvannya JSC Sanzhar Zharkeshov, after leaving the State Administration, literally shake hands with the head of Gazprom Miller?
And is it a coincidence that, as Mr. Chernyshev admitted, at least 350 natural gas production facilities were damaged during Russian aggression against Ukraine, and the loss of gas production capacity is estimated at at least $700 million? And instead of an increase in production, we get an increase in the theft of the company. What kind of “power bank of Europe” is Mr. Chernyshev talking about, if the company’s management has assembled a panopticon of “Buratin” who will work a little more, and then quit and go shake Miller’s hand? Is this a coincidence? Or the result of the undercover work of the company’s “management” to destroy the industry?
And are price increases for the population intended to be part of a plan to destabilize the situation in Ukraine due to inciting a social explosion due to an increase in gas tariffs, which will inevitably cause a chain reaction of rising prices for everything? The SBU should have given answers to these questions long ago.
