Asset management body proposes to appoint manager for Odesa Oil Refinery
The Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) proposed to the Cabinet of Ministers to appoint a state company as the manager of the Odesa Oil Refinery, reports the press service of the agency.
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The decision was made due to the risks of an emergency situation of a man-made nature on the territory of the enterprise, ARMA noted.
"Strategic assets should be managed by the state! After all, only the state has the resources to preserve them," said the head of the agency Olena Duma.
She recalled that Odesa Refinery was one of the most powerful enterprises in the industry at one time. However, due to the constant change of owners, many years of simple and enemy shelling during the war, it turned into a rather complex object of management and investment, Duma explained.
The agency carefully analyzed all information about the asset and, on the eve of the appeal to the government, held consultations with Odesa Oblast Military Administration, the State Property Fund, and specialized companies in the oil refining industry.
Odesa Oil Refinery is one of the five oil refineries in Ukraine, which stopped producing oil products in 2014.
Built in 1935. In August 1997, the plant was included in the list of enterprises of strategic importance for the economy and security of Ukraine.
In 1999, the Odesa Refinery was bought by the Russian company Lukoil. In June 2013, Lukoil sold the plant to Serhiy Kurchenko's Ukrainian corporation SEPEK (East European Oil and Energy Company).
In 2017, the plant was confiscated in favor of the state. In 2019, the Supreme Court allowed an appeal against the transfer of the Odesa Refinery to state ownership.
It is planned to restore the plant's activities by transferring the assets to the management of the state oil refining company Ukrtatnafta or to a newly formed state enterprise of separate subordination for a certain period, according to the "Program of socio-economic and cultural development of Odesa Oblast for 2023 and the main directions of development for 2024-2025", which was supported by the Odesa regional council.
