While the government prepares the country for winter and allocates billions to purchase gas from the EU, Ukraine's subsoil continues to work for private pockets. Thousands of cubic meters of domestic gas are going not to Ukrainian homes, but to Europe - through companies linked to fugitives and oligarchs.
According to journalists, the government is allocating 8.4 billion hryvnias to import gas from Hungary and Slovakia. But at the moment, the Poltava and Kharkiv regions' own fields are half-empty, despite the presence of sufficient reserves. The reason is the control over them by groups of oligarchs who conduct business through offshore companies and intermediaries.
At first glance, imports from the EU seem logical. However, in reality, the same gas that was extracted from our depths and sold to Europe by private entities is being returned to Ukraine. Thus, the state is buying its own resource three times more expensively — under the official label of “European imports.”
Another paradox is that half of Russia's liquefied gas is currently consumed by the European Union. It turns out that the EU buys from the Russians, Ukraine buys from the EU, and Ukrainian fields continue to work for offshore companies associated with former politicians.
The British company Enwell Energy, operating in the Poltava and Kharkiv regions, is ready to extract more than 71 million cubic meters of gas — almost a billion hryvnias in revenue to the budget. But, as reported in the industry, the company's activities are being blocked "to make room for its own."
By “their own” we mean structures controlled through offshore companies, where the ultimate beneficiaries are Oleksandr Katsuba, Ihor Kolomoisky, Gennady Bogolyubov, and Vitaliy Khomutynnik.
One of the key figures is Oleksandr Katsuba, known for the “Boyko Towers” case. He owns assets through the company “Nadra-Geoinvest”, registered to his ex-wife Tetyana Guzenko.
Among the offshore branches are Cyprus, Seychelles and Belize, and the key structure GIL Gold Investment LTD appears in the Pandora Papers leaks.
Another company, Stratum Ukraine, previously owned by Oleksandr Onyshchenko, came under the control of the same Guzenko. It was this company that had licenses to develop deposits in the Luhansk region and was involved in a case of cooperation with the occupation administrations.
Another strategic field is Sakhalinskoye in the Kharkiv region, with reserves of over 15 billion cubic meters of gas. It is formally used by several companies, including Ukrnaftoburinnia, JKX Ukraine BV, DERIPON COMMERCIAL LTD — all of which have connections to former regional deputy Vitaliy Khomutynnik.
Khomutynnik is a partner of Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov and owns half of the company Ukrgaz Invest. Despite the scandals and investigations, the National Security and Defense Council has not imposed sanctions, and the companies continue to receive access to Ukrainian subsoil.
The scheme works simply: gas is extracted in Ukraine by private entities, exported to the EU, and the state purchases “European” gas at market prices.
As a result, citizens pay three times more, the budget loses billions, and the profits go to accounts in Monaco and Cyprus.
While Russia is hitting Ukraine's energy sector with missiles, Ukrainian officials are turning a blind eye to the "energy colonization" of their own country, where the fields are effectively privatized by old clans.
Despite more than a dozen criminal proceedings being opened, the system remains intact. Geonadra, the Ministry of Environment, as well as the responsible officials - Gotsynets and Sobolev - have yet to provide an answer as to why strategic licenses remain in the hands of individuals associated with those involved in corruption cases.
Ukraine has found itself in a “gas loop” where our state imports its own gas.
While the government spends billions on purchases, instead of regaining control over the fields, the old players — Katsuba, Khomutynnik, Kolomoisky, and Bogolyubov — continue to profit from a resource that should provide Ukrainian families with heat in the winter.
