Naftogaz Group paid over UAH 53 billion ($1.3 billion) in taxes to Ukraine in the first seven months of 2024, 10 percent more than in the same period in 2023, the state-owned oil and gas company said.

“The state needs the support of large companies to meet the challenges of the war,” said Chairman of the Board Oleksiy Chernyshov in a company statement. “The group’s companies consistently pay taxes to budgets at all levels. In July alone, Naftogaz paid more than 6 billion UAH (146 million dollars) to the consolidated budget of Ukraine.”

Last year, the corporation transferred 83.4 billion UAH (2 billion dollars) in taxes to the state treasury, and another 6.8 billion UAH (165.5 million dollars) went to local budgets, according to a Naftogaz press release dated January 15, 2024.

In 2021, before Russia’s invasion, Naftogaz paid UAH 116 billion ($2.8 billion) in taxes, which accounted for 10.7 percent of state budget revenues that year, the company reported on January 12, 2022.

For the first quarter of 2024, Naftogaz reported a net profit of UAH 10.9 billion ($265.3 million), recovering from a net loss of UAH 1.4 billion ($37.1 million) in the same three-month period last year. For shareholders, Naftogaz announced dividends of nearly UAH 12.2 billion ($296.9 million) for 2023, which the company said amounted to 95 percent of last year’s consolidated profit.

“Naftogaz remains the backbone of Ukraine in times of war,” Chernyshov said in the company’s earnings report dated June 27, 2024.

In its latest production report, Naftogaz reported a seven percent year-on-year increase in commercial natural gas production in the first seven months of 2024, to a total of 8.6 billion cubic meters (303.7 billion cubic feet).

“The group’s companies are increasing gas production by bringing new high-performance wells into operation, introducing advanced technologies and optimizing the efficiency of existing facilities,” Chernyshov said in a company statement on August 6, 2024. “We exceeded our targets by 2 percent. Work continues not only in the central and western regions, but also in the eastern ones, despite the ongoing military challenges.”

In its latest long-term credit rating report for Naftogaz dated December 19, 2023, Fitch Ratings states: “Given the very high operational risks in Ukraine in the wake of the ongoing war with Russia, slow payments for gas and limited external financing options, the company’s forecast liquidity remains extremely weak and unpredictable.”

Chernyshov said in a statement on July 19, 2024, that the company had fulfilled the mandatory Eurobond payments and the next round was scheduled for November 2024.

“We fulfill our obligations in good faith,” said the CEO. “The fact that we are emerging from insolvency proves our reliability to international partners and allows Naftogaz to attract new capital investments for the development of the company. This was and remains one of my main tasks as CEO of the Naftogaz Group.”

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