Ukrnafta to take over four seized gas companies, awaits antimonopoly committee’s approval
Ukraine’s largest oil and gas producer Ukrnafta has signed agreements with the national assets management and recovery agency, ARMA, to take over four gas companies – Ukrnaftoburinnya, East Europe Petroleum, Sakhalinske, and Sirius-1.
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In a statement on Wednesday, Ukrnafta said it would obtain the corporate rights of the said companies after being given merger clearance from the antimonopoly committee.
The four companies, which develop the Sakhalin oil and gas condensate field, have been arrested as part of criminal proceedings.
In April, the corporate rights of Sakhalinske, Sirius-1 LLC, East Europe Petroleum, and finally, Ukrnaftoburinnya were seized, the latter affiliated with Ukrainian oligarchs Ihor Kolomoisky, Vitaliy Khomutynnik, and Pavel Fuks.
Law enforcement suspect several gas companies had conspired since 2000, leading to the government losing control of the Sakhalin has field, which it had previously spent more than UAH 1 billion on its development.
The Sakhalin gas field, located in the Kharkiv region, is Ukrnaftoburinnya’s main business asset. Its reserves are estimated at at least 15 billion cubic metres of gas.