Ex-director of UkrGasVydobuvannya: In the first days of the invasion, gas was produced clandestinely in the occupied territories

In the first days of the full-scale war, the state-owned company UkrGasVydobuvannya clandestinely produced gas in the occupied territories.

This was stated by Oleksandr Romaniuk, the former acting CEO of the company, in an interview with LIGA.net.

"In the first week, the enemy captured Balakliya. And this is 20 kilometres from the central office of ShebelynkaGasVydobuvannya. This meant that about 40 of our fields came under occupation – together with people, transport, drilling and other equipment," he said.

According to him, the main task at that time was to save people, help the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and at the same time maintain production. 

Employees were managing the facilities and repairing power grids under constant shelling.

"Literally under fire, our guys were refuelling military equipment at our gas stations, producing gas in the occupied territories and redirecting it to the government-controlled territories. They took a lot of risks then. They are all real heroes," he said.

According to him, the company suffered about $1 billion in losses as a result of the war. This amount includes production losses, destroyed infrastructure and equipment.

"Air strikes on our facilities started in the second week of the invasion when Balakliya and Kupyansk were captured. The russians also regularly cut off power supply with artillery shelling. They definitely knew the lines that supply electricity to our facilities.

Unfortunately, the ruscists eventually managed to destroy one of the extremely critical facilities for Ukrgasvydobuvannya, Shebelynka Gas Processing Plant. Over the summer alone, the plant was hit by about 50 mines, shells, and missiles. It was located 13 kilometres away from the enemy," Mr. Romaniuk clarified.