Naftogaz wants to get top priority right to buy gas on open market
National joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy, with the liberalization of the Ukrainian gas market, expects that the holding will obtain the top-priority right to buy gas on the open market, Naftogaz CEO Yevhen Bakulin wrote in his blog on the Ekonomichna Prvada.
"Today any interested person and any company can use the opportunities of the open gas supply market. However, taking into account the specifics of the social function of Naftogaz Ukrainy, we should have the top-priority right to use the new conditions of the market operation," he said.
He said that this concern preferences due to the increased liabilities that the holding has to the government and the state, including in supplying gas to households and the fuel and energy complex at the acceptable prices. This social compound of the holding's operation brings misbalance in its financial plans.
"We’re obliged to rebuild our work in the new conditions to use the opportunities of the open market and our technological possibilities as much as possible, to minimize the company's losses from the fulfillment of the social function. I hope that other commercial companies that entered the gas supply market understand this, and we'll be able to establish partnerships with them," Bakulin said.
He also expressed confidence that the reduction in the price of gas due to the liberalization of the domestic market will result in an increase of the use of gas in producing Ukraine's energy.
As reported, when the law on the basis of functioning of the natural gas market in Ukraine took effect, Ostchem Gas Trading AG, VETEK and Metinvest made use of the possibility to buy gas on the European market under a non-regulated tariff and import it to Ukraine.
