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National joint-stock company (NJSC) Naftogaz of Ukraine has approved the appointment of Polish national Pawel Jozef Stanczak – Technical Director, Member of the Board in PGNiG Technologie S.A. – as president of Ukraine's state-run gas transport system operator Ukrtransgaz, according to the operator's announcement in the National Securities and Stock Market Commission's information disclosure system.
Stanczak was appointed Ukrtransgaz president for one year. First Vice-President of Ukrtransgaz Myroslav Khymko will continue to exercise temporary powers of the company's head until Stanczak actually assumes an office, the report says.
Stanczak has more than 25 years of experience in gas transmission, distribution and storage businesses. With PGNiG, he was in charge of the unbundling process and the establishment of Gaz-System S.A., Poland's independent transmission system operator (TSO), in 2003-2004. He continued to serve as a Technical Director – Member of the Board of Gaz-System S.A. until 2008, being responsible for developing and implementing investment plans, daily maintenance of the transmission system, coordinating permitting and licensing processes with relevant state regulators and authorities.
Read alsoAnother major gas player to enter Ukraine marketPrior to his appointment as Ukrtransgaz head, Stanczak worked as Technical Director – Member of the Board in PGNiG Technologie S.A., being responsible for design and construction of new gas pipelines.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Naftogaz's executive board, with the consent of the supervisory board in March 2017 voted for the dismissal of Ukrtransgaz President Ihor Prokopiv.
Prokopiv had worked as president at Ukrtransgaz since August 2014.
The management of Naftogaz and Ukrtransgaz disagreed in the autumn of 2016 over the tender for the construction of compressor stations by Ukrtransgaz in the south of Ukraine. As a result, Naftogaz, the parent holding company, did not agree on related procurements, arguing that such pumping capacities would not be needed in the country's south due to the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline.
In early February 2017, Ukrtransgaz head Prokopiv said in an interview published in the Ukrainian media that Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolev proposed a motion to the holding's supervisory board to remove Prokopiv for the period of audits at Ukrtransgaz. Prokopiv claimed the initiative had not been supported by the supervisory board.
On February 10, Kobolev said that the internal audit had revealed suspicious transactions in Ukrtransgaz's system in 2016 to the tune of UAH 1.5 billion, or US$58.2 million.