Naftogaz supports use of UAH 26 bln from royalty for Aug-Nov 2022 to buy gas from private producers – Vitrenko

KYIV. Oct 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy supports the idea of creating a kind of special fund for the purchase of gas, into which UAH 26 billion of royalty for subsoil use from August to November of this year will be transferred (draft law No. 8026 of head of the budget committee of the Verkhovna Rada Danylo Hetmantsev), head of the company Yuriy Vitrenko said.

"This is more of a bill to support private producers. Because gas is bought from them at the expense of royalty. We, in principle, support everything that increases production in Ukraine," Vitrenko said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, private miners now sell less than a third of the extracted resources, and store the rest in underground storage facilities.

"Our colleagues from the private sector complain that they have limited financial resources, because consumption in the industrial segment has fallen sharply, and it is difficult for them to sell gas where they used to sell it. From this point of view, the state supports them. Naftogaz is being used as a tool," Vitrenko explained, adding that the company is ready to be such a tool, if the state needs it.

He suggested that such a bill would be supported by the Rada.

At the same time, Vitrenko noted that the volumes and mechanisms of gas purchases from private producers will still be discussed.

"To date, since May, we have bought about 220 million cubic meters from private traders on the stock exchange for the funds that we had," he said.