British native becomes new chairman of Ukrnafta

Such decision was made at a general meeting of shareholders on July 22, 2015, with 99.97% of the quorum voting in favor of Rollins.

When speaking at the shareholders meeting, Rollins said that previously he worked in one of UK largest oil and gas companies - BG Group.

As UNIAN reported earlier, in mid-June the largest shareholder of Ukrnafta, NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, announced an open competition for a top management post in Ukrnafta.

Ukrnafta’s minority shareholders stated they would be ready to hold a competition for the position of the company’s board chairman.

In late May, the Supervisory Board of Ukrnafta set a meeting of shareholders for July 22, 2015, where dividend payments, as well as the election of the company's new management were to be considered.

Earlier, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev stated the need to change the management of Ukrnafta and hold a public competition for the position of the company’s head.

In turn, Chairman of the Board of Ukrnafta Peter Vanhecke said that the claims of Naftogaz, the company’s major shareholder, against him were groundless.

In particular, Vanhecke said that senior officials of Naftogaz decided to take the law in their hands in dealing with the management of Ukrnafta because the latter tried to hold Naftogaz accountable for the violation of basic business principles.

In addition, Ukrnafta management stated that for almost a year, Naftogaz had refused to comply with a decision of the Supreme Economic Court to return 2 bcm of gas or repay the debt varying from UAH 9 to 14 billion.

According to a member of the Supervisory Board of Ukrnafta Ihor Kolomoisky, Naftogaz’s debt to Ukrnafta for used gas amounts to nearly UAH 50 billion.

"All this procedure with the selection of a new chairman is a major violation of our shareholders agreements, articles of association of the company," Kolomoisky said.