REUTERS
The company wants to supply gas directly to consumers without gas companies owned by oligarch Firtash.
Chief Commercial Officer of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine Yuriy Vitrenko says the company has created three subsidiaries for supplying gas directly to the industry, municipal heating companies, and households in circumvention of regional gas distribution companies, most of which belong to Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash.
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According to Vitrenko, Gas Supply Company (GSC) Naftogaz of Ukraine will be supplying gas to households, GSC Naftogaz Heat will deliver gas to local heat suppliers, and GSC Naftogaz Trading to commercial customers.
"Our goal is to ensure full transparency in these segments," Vitrenko said at a press conference on September 25, according to an UNIAN correspondent.
As UNIAN reported earlier, in early April, the state-owned holding published its appeal to the government, Ukraine's National Energy and Utilities Regulation Commission (NEURC), and the Antimonopoly Committee to eliminate the unwarranted monopoly of the international group of companies, Group DF, owned by Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash. Group DF holds a significant share in the market for distribution and supply of gas to households. According to Naftogaz, most regional gas distribution companies are redundant intermediaries on gas market, bearing no responsibility and risks associated with gas supplies, as well as creating no added value for consumers.
In response to Naftogaz's statements, the Gas Market Association (representing the regional gas companies' interests) said that the regional companies' debts before the state holding are related to the fact that the state does not fully cover social benefits and subsidies assigned to households, rather than to their shortcomings.
UNIAN memo. NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine is the largest state-run vertically integrated oil and gas holding whose subsidiaries account for about 90% of oil and gas production in Ukraine. Naftogaz develops oil and gas fields, produces crude oil and natural gas. Its core business is also transportation and trade in fuel through its own network of filling stations.