Ukrainian energy giant Naftogaz will soon emerge from default: CEO
The CEO of Ukrainian state-owned energy giant Naftogaz said the company was working to quickly resolve the debt default issue.
Oleksiy Chernyshov told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday that the company is in the final stages of getting back on track.
“By the end of this month, we plan to ask bondholders to agree to the restructuring,” Chernyshov said. “This is being done very intensively right now. My plan is to complete this process within two weeks.”
Naftogaz is the first Ukrainian government-owned organization since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Last year, the company said payments to holders of Naftogaz Eurobonds expired on July 26 with no payments made.
“Since Naftogaz has effectively been deprived of access to international capital markets by default on this Eurobond obligation, the Cabinet, as the responsible party, has decided to reduce the import of natural gas for the 2022-2023 heating season. We will take full responsibility for raising the necessary funds for the company,” the company said.
Chernyshov said his responsibility as CEO of Naftogaz is to ensure domestic natural gas production, “which means promoting and motivating private producers to produce more, and that is what we are doing.” It’s about being there,’ he said.
“Naftogaz buys from private producers who produce gas at market reference prices. My job is to increase the production of natural gas in Ukraine.”
Correction: The text of this article has been updated with the correct name of Naftogaz CEO. I also changed the photo.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/18/ukraines-energy-giant-naftogaz-will-be-out-of-default-soon-ceo.html Ukrainian energy giant Naftogaz will soon emerge from default: CEO