Ukraine's largest oil producer, Ukrnafta, in January-June 2019 (H1) paid UAH 6.8 billion (US$263.6 million) in taxes, which was 2% up year-over-year (y-o-y).
"For H1 2019, PJSC Ukrnafta paid UAH 6.8 bln in taxes to the budgets of all levels. The taxes, paid for the respective period, are 2.0% up against the same indicator in 2018 (UAH 6.6 bln/[$255.8])," the company's press service said in a statement on July 12.
Ukrnafta continues to pay taxes in full, despite absence of a finalized solution to the problem of the company's outstanding tax debt, it said.
Read alsoUkrnafta shrinks net profit by almost 80% in Q1
In addition, the company mentioned continual problems with oil sales at the state-run oil auctions where the company is required to sell its oil and condensate and where the starting price is set based on the formula approved by the government. In particular, only four out of 10 state-run oil auctions were successful over the period under review.
At the same time, Ukrnafta has been working on solutions to repay the outstanding tax debt for over three years already.
"In March 2019, the Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders approved the decision intended to eliminate the overdue tax debt of Ukrnafta envisaging that NJSC Naftogas [of Ukraine] should buy 2.06 billion cubic meters of gas [bcm], which was already transferred by Ukrnafta to the underground storage facilities [USFs] in the past, and buy additionally 2 bcm of gas to be produced in the future," the press service added.
Ukrnafta also plans to allocate all proceeds from this transaction to repay the tax debt (including fines and penalties) and other tax obligations arising in connection with the contracts.
"The elimination of the overdue tax debt will open the way to increasing investment, modernizing assets and achieving sustainable growth in production of hydrocarbons. However, the governmental has not yet passed a decision on this proposal," the report said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the national oil and gas holding Naftogaz of Ukraine in the spring of 2015 published its financial report for 2012-2013 audited by Deloitte&Touche, admitting that it had used at its discretion 10 billion bcm of gas belonging to Ukrnafta.
Due to Naftogaz's refusal to repay the debt to Ukrnafta for this gas worth UAH 50 billion ($1.9 billion) and the broken auctions for the sale of oil through the fault of some officials from the Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Ministry and Naftogaz managers, Ukrnafta was incurred a tax debt owed to the state.
UNIAN memo. Ukrnafta is the largest state-owned oil and gas company in Ukraine. Ukrnafta owns 537 fuel filling stations throughout the country. The company's 50% stake + 1 share belong to Naftogaz of Ukraine.
