The largest state-owned oil and gas company of Ukraine, Naftogaz, intends to significantly increase the volume of gas purchases from private producers in 2024.

This was announced by the chairman of the board Oleksiy Chernyshov during an interview for the Forbes YouTube project "Business Breakfast with Volodymyr Fedorin".

According to him, this year "Naftogaz" plans to purchase up to 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas from Ukrainian private gas production enterprises. This is more than triple the figure for 2023, when the company purchased 1 billion cubic meters.

"We are stimulating, if not an increase in private mining, then at least maintaining it at the existing level," Chernyshov emphasized. He also added that he had recently held a meeting with the heads of the respective companies to discuss this issue.

At the same time, some private producers are forced to reduce volumes due to military risks and legal obstacles, as happened in the cases of Smart and Ukrnaftoburinnia. However, the head of Naftogaz assured that the state-owned giant had fully paid for the 1 billion cubic meters of gas purchased last year.

"Ukrainian Energy Exchange" created fair prices on the market, according to Chernyshov. However, he opposed the opening of the export of produced gas to private individuals, explaining that in the conditions of war we cannot afford another approach.

In general, the intentions of "Naftogaz" to significantly increase purchases in the private sector in 2024 indicate the desire to maximally provide for domestic needs and use all available resources to strengthen Ukraine's energy security.