Naftogaz Ukrainy Reduces Losses
Naftogaz Ukrainy made an operating profit for the first time in six years in 2015, although currency losses and sales to the population still left it with a net loss, it said March 29. And it cautioned that the accounts of the majority of its subsidiaries have not been independently audited and the results could be worse.
Contributing to the operating profit of hryvnia 4.5bn (€152mn) were gas transit receipts, gas sales to industrial customers and sales made by its upstream subsidiary Ukrgazvydobuvannya.
The exchange rate weakened, with the hryvnia falling from 15.8/$ at the start of the year to 24/$ by the end, increasing its foreign currency debt and the price of imports.
It also lost money on selling gas at regulated prices, which in Q1 2015 were much lower than the cost of the gas it imported. And that being the winter, it accounted for exactly half the population’s offtake for the whole year (8.6bn m³ out of 17.2bn m³). Overall it lost hryvnia 25.1bn, down from 2014's hryvnia 90bn.
Selected profits (losses), hryvnia bn
|
Transit |
20.7 |
|
Sales to industry |
8.1 |
|
Sales by Ukrgazvydobuvannya |
8.3 |
|
Sales to the population |
(25.7) |
|
Unauthorised offtake (Jan-Feb, in Donetsk and Luhansk) |
(2.1) |
|
Operating costs |
(4.8) |
|
Exchange-rate and other losses |
(29.6) |
Source: Naftogaz Ukrainy
William Powell