Gazprom Establishes Gas Marketing Subsidiary In Ukraine

According to the gas agreement between Naftogaz of Ukraine and Gazprom as of March 12, 2008, Gazprom registered its Ukrainian subsidiary, Gazprom-Ukraine, Interfax reports with reference to a source in the Ukrainian government. The subsidiary is supposed to apply to the National Electricity Regulatory Commission of Ukraine for a license to supply gas at an unregulated tariff.  The company is headed by Anatoliy Podmyshalskiy, the head of Gazprom’s department dealing with customers in CIS countries. Vladimir Nesterenko: It is not clear from the news whether Gazprom-Ukraine and Naftogaz are going to share domestic sales, or they will form a JV similar to Ukrgaz-Energo. Whatever the outcome, we bet Gazprom will be targeting not less than 25 bcm sales to Ukraine’s industrial consumers. The new structure will also depend on whether Gazprom and Naftogaz settle a JV for purchases of Central Asian gas, as agreed during the Yushchenko-Putin meeting in February.