REUTERS
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has published a list of prequalified gas suppliers that will be able to bid in tenders at which national oil and gas holding Naftogaz of Ukraine will buy gas using an EBRD revolving loan in 2017-2018, according to the company's press service.
Three companies – CEZ A.S. (the Czech Republic), ENGIE SA (France), and PGNiG (Poland) – were unconditionally prequalified, it said.
In addition, ten companies from Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Italy, Poland, Germany, and Hungary were conditionally prequalified.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Naftogaz in March 2017 announced it would select importers of gas to be bought with the use of an EBRD loan worth $300 million to prepare for the 2017-2018 heating season.
Read alsoCabinet clears way for Naftogaz to raise UAH 3.5 bln in loans for gas purchaseThe EBRD in September 2015 allocated $300 million to Naftogaz for the purchase of gas from European companies. In late May 2016, the state holding repaid the last tranche of the loan together with interest on the EBRD's revolving credit line. Naftogaz also borrowed funds from the EBRD for the 2016-2017 heating season.
What is more, the company uses a loan guarantee instrument from the World Bank and the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
In 2016, Naftogaz imported 8.2 billion cubic meters of gas from Europe, which was 11% down against 2015.
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.