LONDON (Reuters) – Recent Russian attacks on Ukraine have damaged 350 natural gas facilities in the country though production should be largely restored by year-end, Oleksiy Chernyshov, chief executive of Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz said on Wednesday.
Speaking at an event of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Chernyshov said the loss of gas production capacity amounted to a value of around $700 million.
“We have started the heating season – we expect it to be the hardest ever,” said Chernyshov.
“We all understand that the energy is another weapon…and we’ve been seriously attacked by Russian missiles in some part of our infrastructure and gas production infrastructure has been hit.”
Chernyshov, who was appointed in early November, said getting the firm out of default was another of his priorities.
“We should come out of the default and have the consent solicitation with our Eurobond holders,” he said.
Naftogaz tipped into a messy default in July, becoming the first Ukrainian government entity to do so since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24.
The company announced in mid-November it was intensifying cooperation with its creditors to resolve the situation after bondholders of two of its main bonds did not back a payment deferral plan.
(Reporting by Karin Strohecker; editing by Marc Jones)
