REUTERS
The plant currently works under a tolling agreement with Agro Gas Trading.
Ukraine's largest chemical giant, Odesa Portside Chemical Plant (OPP), has resumed ammonia and carbamide production after being closed for more than a year.
"After more than a one-year break, Odesa Portside [Chemical] Plant has launched the production of ammonia and carbamide. And although we face a few more days of hassle, we can say that we are on the homestretch," First Deputy Chairman of the OPP's Board Mykola Shchurikov wrote on Facebook on Sunday, August 4.
Read alsoUkraine's largest chemical plant in Odesa resumes ammonia, carbamide production
According to him, the plant started working under a tolling agreement with Agro Gas Trading (AGT).
Shchurikov noted that, according to the document, the minimum period of cooperation between the companies would be four months with possible further extension as agreed by the OPP supervisory board. The plant will receive about 60 million cubic meters of gas each month, he added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, in 2016, the OPP's 99.6% stake was put up for sale with a starting price of UAH 13.175 billion (about US$520 million), but the auction failed due to lack of bids from investors.
On January 29, 2018, OPP management announced that the plant had found a new gas supplier, the privately owned All-Ukrainian Energy Company, and resumed the production of ammonia and carbamide.
On April 30, 2018, the plant stopped its operation due to a notification from the state-run gas transport system operator Ukrtransgaz about the violation by All-Ukrainian Energy Company of the terms of the gas transportation agreement and the suspension of gas supplies to the OPP.
Commenting on the transition to a tolling scheme, CEO of National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine Andriy Kobolyev said that the holding would challenge such a deal in court, since the OPP had failed to pay off the debt worth UAH 1.5 billion (US$58.8 million) to Naftogaz. In addition, the plant has about US$193 million in debt for gas before Dmytro Firtash's Ostchem holding.
In early January 2019, the OPP announced its plan to attract a stabilization loan worth UAH 500 million (US$19.6 million) to overcome the crisis.
UNIAN memo. The OPP, which is located in the town of Yuzhne in Odesa region, is Ukraine's second-largest ammonia and carbamide producer and the third-largest manufacturer of nitrogen fertilizers.
The company also handles shipments of chemical products arriving from CIS countries and exports. The company holds a monopoly in the national market of specialized services for the receipt, cooling and transshipment of ammonia.