REUTERS
One of the most prominent investors in Ukraine, Polish businessman Jan Kulczyk died at the age of 65 as a result of post-operative complications, Polish newspaper Wyborcza reported.
Kulczyk was a founder and owner of Kulczyk Investments, an international company with investments in oil and gas, mineral resources, infrastructure, power and gas distribution, and trading. The businessman also owned a number of energy assets in Ukraine and was planning to arrange the supply of electric energy from Khmelnytsky Nuclear Power Plant (KhNPP) to European consumers.
Since 2000, Kulczyk has regularly topped the list of richest Poles, with an estimated net value of around PLN 15.1 billion ($4 billion).
In 2010, Kulchyk’s company completed the acquisition of an effective 70% interest in KUB-Gas LLC, one of Ukraine’s largest private gas producers. KUB-Gas is licensed to produce gas in Dnieper-Donets Basin: Olhivka, Makiyivka, North Makiyivka, Krutohirsk and Verhunsk fields.
In addition, in autumn of 2014 it was reported that Energoatom, the operator of all running nuclear power plants in Ukraine, and Kulczyk Investments were considering to set up the supplies of electric energy from Ukraine to European consumers.
In summer of 2015, Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers approved Ukraine-EU Energy Bridge pilot project for the transfer of electric energy from the country’s KhNPP second power unit to the European Union. The exports of energy were to be arranged by disconnecting the unit from Ukraine’s national energy grid.