EBRD aims to increase support for Ukraine Naftogaz

President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said that the bank is looking to increase its support for Ukraine’s state oil and natural gas company Naftogaz after Russian attacks this month on the country’s energy infrastructure.

The coordinated and large-scale Russian air strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in early October forced Ukraine to suspend operations at several major gas installations.

As a result, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated that his country could need to import gas in record amounts from Europe and the United States as well as Azerbaijan during this winter.

REVOLVING CREDIT LINE TO NAFTOGAZ

The EBRD's President Odile Renaud Basso said on Monday that these attacks have created a new problem for winter heating.

She said, "We are now looking at how we can improve."

The EBRD provides a revolving line of credit to Naftogaz, which allows it to purchase gas upfront and pay the bank when clients pay. The EBRD provided Naftogaz with a total of 1.67 billion euro ($1.9 billion) since the start of the war. This includes 1.27 billion in funding and investment grants from other donors.

We will step up our efforts to ensure that gas is available to all. Renaud Basso stated that they are currently working on the problem.

She stated that the bank is also trying to raise grant money, even though the total amount has not been determined yet.

Renaud Basso stated, "We've been asking our shareholders to provide grants as the borrowing capacity of the company is limited."

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, the EBRD is one of Ukraine's most important financiers. This year it has provided funding totaling close to 2.3bn euros. She said that, in addition to the power supply issues, human capital was also a major constraint on companies operating in Ukraine because of wartime displacements as well as large-scale militarisation.

She said that despite this, the economy is holding up. Companies from agribusiness and logistics continue to invest despite the conflict.

She said: "You can see it in the economic numbers - they are quite impressive for a war-torn country." $1 = 0.8575 euro (Reporting and editing by Emelia Sithole Matarise, Karin Strohecker, and Libby George)

(source: Reuters)