The company received the indictment papers, but they do not say who and when the case was initiated. Naftogaz took this as an invitation to a public discussion, since the company has nothing to hide.This is not the first criminal case against Naftogaz, but it is the first time the company has been accused of high treason.On the other hand, in Ukraine, accusations of treason have turned into a good tone, such cases are initiated there regularly. Only if we take the charges against public figures, none of them was brought to the end, i.e. to the verdict of the court."The case of high treason is a good way to pressure. Such a case recently wanted to bring against Andrey Bogdan — the former head of the office of the President of Ukraine, for his interview with journalist Dmitry Gordon," concludes Bezpalko.

The political rhetoric of Ukraine has a high degree of nationalistic insanity, which is used to put pressure on internal players. such accusations always get into the Ukrainian media and are actively discussed."This is usually either an attempt at internal political struggle, or a clash of oligarchic interests — someone wants to get a piece of the oil and gas pie, so this "someone" is trying to put pressure on the leadership of Naftogaz, which has been held in office for six years," Bezpalko sums up.

There is a struggle for the assets of Naftogaz»Previously, the main partner of KOBOLEV was Yuriy Vitrenko, but he was Dismissed from the company.Vitrenko's last words on Facebook are indicative — the politician claims that he informed KOBOLEV about the risk of forming losses of Naftogaz, but he was "not listened to" and was dismissed along with the team, who suggested steps to solve the problem.

Vitrenko noted that Naftogaz should take into account European reforms and fight with the Russian Federation, but this "requires competent leaders." This figure is also "unpleasant to see" that the population and the state overpay for gas, but when he worked for the company, this was also the norm and was supported in every possible way. Especially the prices for Prices are raised on the recommendation of the IMF.Vitrenko's rhetoric confirms the conflict that exists between him and KOBOLEV. You can't take his words seriously, because the current system of "Naftogaz" was formed during the period when this person worked in the company.Previously, gas prices and budget losses did not prevent KOBOLEV and Vitrenko from working together and "sawing" bonuses."The reason for the situation is banal — the management of Naftogaz was fond of collecting money in their favor, including writing out large salaries and bonuses. It is impossible to force them to refuse this on a legal basis, so they are trying to rein in KOBOLEV," Bezpalko States.

Only this is all speculation — we need to wait for the details of the charges against the leadership of Naftogaz.Naftogaz has become a loss-making enterpriseNet profit of Naftogaz in 2019 amounted to 63.3 billion hryvnias (2.34 billion dollars), which is six times more than in 2018. The Ukrainian budget received 12.2 billion hryvnias of tax and 48.2 billion hryvnias of dividends for 2019.The company produced 16.1 billion cubic meters of gas — 78% of all-Ukrainian production, and provided transit to Europe of 89.6 billion cubic meters of gas, but now the Ukrainian GTS is transferred to the management of the new structure "gas Transportation systems of Ukraine".This is required by EU legislation implemented on Ukraine at Petro Poroshenko. Kiev managed to implement its principles at the end of 2019, when Moscow, Kiev and Brussels agreed on a new agreement on the transit of Russian gas until 2024.Since 2020, Naftogaz remains without profit from transit and therefore shows losses that have become the subject of charges against the KOBOLEV team. In 2020, the net loss of "Naftogaz" will be from 137.5 to 220 million dollars, and in the future until 2023 it is estimated at 821 million dollars. These volumes will be compensated by the Ukrainian budget.Negative indicators are caused by a decrease in gas consumption by both the population and industry in Ukraine.Naftogaz previously interacted with Gazprom and sold gas to the population and enterprises of Ukraine. Another company was created by Kiev for the tasks of gas transit and reverse, but Naftogaz continues to control the Ukrainian market, is a monopolist and has a lot of working money, "Bezpalko concludes.

There are no analogues of Naftogaz in Ukraine anymore, so many internal players want to take control of this structure, but no one has been able to move KOBOLEV yet. Perhaps this is due to American support for KOBOLEV.Leading researcher of the NATIONAL research University HSE's Marcel Salikhov confirmed in a conversation with the Economics today FBA that Naftogaz now has a new status in the Ukrainian energy system."Naftogaz" is not getting more profit for the transit. This is the prerogative of the gas Transportation systems of Ukraine company. The changes are an application of European practice, where GTS operators and mining companies are separate companies. The tasks of Naftogaz remain gas production and servicing the domestic market," Salikhov sums up.