OREANDA-NEWS. January 11, 2008. Yuriy Prodan, minister for fuel and energy, has got his first deputy – Oleg Bugaev, ex-CEO of Ukrinterenergo, who conflicted with the former.Sergei Taruta and Vitaliy Gaiduk, owners of Industrial Union of Donbass (IUD) corporation, even more reinforced their positions in the Ukrainian energy market. Following Oleg Dubina close to the corporation, who became the head of Naftogas of Ukraine NJSC, Oleg Bugaev, another person from Mr Taruta and Mr Gaiduk surroundings, returned to the Ukrainian power industry. At that, Mr Bugaev returned triumphant – since January 8, he is the first deputy minister for fuel and energy.

It is interesting that Oleg Bugaev will work with Yuriy Prodan, with whom he actively fought not so long ago. Mr Bugaev, when heading the state-owned electricity export company – Ukrinterenergo, accused the Ministry for Fuel and Energy managed by Ivan Plachkov and his first deputy – Yuriy Prodan, of that from autumn 2005 they tried to illegally dismiss him from the CEO position in this state-owned company. The Ministry for Fuel and Energy motivated its decision on Mr Bugaev dismissal by inefficient management of the latter. At the ministry they claimed that the prices fixed in the large contracts for Ukrainian electricity export were loss-making for Ukraine. It is about the contracts signed with System Consulting, supplying electricity to Hungary, which annual export turnover amounted to 2.1 mn KWh, and with Korlea Invest (supplies to Slovakia) with the annual export turnover of 245 mn kWh, as well as the Polish-based Zomar with the annual export turnover of 1.2 mn kWh, effected with zero profitability. The latter two companies were associated long since and obstinately with the IUD co-owners. As they asserted in the Ministry, the Ministry for Fuel and Energy and ECU NJSC obtained offers for electricity export contracts with lucrative prices, however, they were blocked by Oleg Bugaev. Ukrinterenergo replied that the whole volume of the exported electricity had been contracted till 2007. In his turn, Mr Bugaev asserted that the management of the Ministry for Fuel and Gas insisted on termination of the export contracts, while these contracts provided for significant fines and penalties for such a termination. Meanwhile, the well-informed sources say that the addenda to the contracts envisaging these sanctions were signed by Mr Bugaev.

Now, Mr Bugaev and Mr Prodan will have to work in one team. It is quite probable, especially taking into account the appointment of Mr Bugaev, that a person from the IUD owners surroundings will also head Ukrinterenergo by replacing Nikolai Pashkevich, who represents the interests of Andrei Kluev and Rinat Akhmetov.