Govt reappoints newly elected members of Naftogaz board not as acting members

KYIV. Sept 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has reappointed the newly elected members of the board of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, but not as acting members.

According to decree No. 1154-r dated September 27, published on Tuesday morning on the government portal, Olena Boichenko (Chief Human Resources Officer), Roman Chumak (Head of Treasury Operations), Mauritius Kalugin and Vladyslav Volovyk (advisors to the board chairman) have been temporarily authorized to discharge the duties of the members of the board of Naftogaz Ukrainy.

At the same time, by order No. 1155-r dated September 28, the sentence on the appointment of Boichenko, Chumak, Kalugin and Volovyk was removed from order No. 1154-r and they have already been elected and temporarily appointed as members of the Naftogaz board.

By order No. 1155-r, the Cabinet also clarified that the decisions on the appointment were made before the new composition of the supervisory board made decisions on the formation of the Naftogaz Ukrainy board, but no later than December 28, 2021.

The clause on the termination of the powers of Naftogaz board members Serhiy Pereloma (First Deputy Board Chairman and acting director of Ukrtransgaz) and Yaroslav Teklyuk (Director for Legal Affairs) in decree No. 1154-r was left unchanged.

Earlier, a government source told Interfax-Ukraine that on September 20, Naftogaz’s supervisory board approved the resignation of board members Otto Waterlander (Chief Transformation Officer) and Peter van Driel (Chief Financial Officer).

At the same time, Naftogaz, in a press release released on Tuesday, said that the powers of Waterlander and van Driel were suspended by the supervisory board without presentation from the head of the board or without the resignation letter submitted in accordance with the established procedure. At the same time, the powers of Pereloma and Teklyuk were suspended by the Cabinet already on the proposal from Yuriy Vitrenko.

This was the last meeting of the supervisory board in its current composition, since early September its independent directors Clare Spottiswoode, Bruno Lescoeur and Ludo Van der Heyden notified the Ukrainian government of their early resignation, and terminated their powers of their own free will.

After receiving applications for the resignation of independent members of the Supervisory Board, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal ordered to announce a competition for the selection of three more independent members to the previously announced competition for the selection of one independent council member.

According to him, the competition should end in November this year, so that the new composition of the supervisory board has enough time to determine the requirements for a candidate for the post of head of the Naftogaz board and hold a competition for his election no later than May 1 of next year.

The Cabinet also dismissed members of Naftogaz Supervisory Board, who are representatives of the state, Yulia Kovaliv, Nataliya Boyko and Yulia Svyrydenko, because after the resignation of independent directors, the board lost the ability to make decisions. Thanks to this, the Cabinet of Ministers can perform the functions of the Supervisory Board of Naftogaz at a meeting of shareholders, approving the necessary decisions.

According to the press service of Naftogaz, Kalugin has 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, has significant competencies in managing production and service companies, developing new fields and optimizing production. He has experience of work in Petrofac, Cairn India, BP, TNK-BP, Arco Oil & Gas and Ukrnafta.

Boichenko has 16 years of experience in the field of human capital management, before joining Naftogaz, she held the position of director of the consulting department at Human Capital Advisory Services at Deloitte.

Chumak has 19 years of experience in Naftogaz, has significant experience in building relationships with banks and other financial institutions. He also worked in banks Ukraine and Sintez.

Volovyk has experience of working as deputy director of Gas of Ukraine (a subsidiary of NJSC), headed the branch of the Center for Metrology and Gas Distribution Systems, and was involved in scientific and teaching work in the legal industry.