EBRD backs Ukrainian gas trader with €10mn loan
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a €10mn ($12mn) loan to Ukrainian gas trader ERU Trading, the EU financier announced on July 7, saying the support would boost competition and security of supply in the country's energy sector.
ERU Trading is the biggest private importer of gas into Ukraine, obtaining supplies from neighbouring Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The EBRD said its two-year revolving working capital facility would increase the company's trade capacity.
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"By supporting a privately owned gas trader, we are supporting further liberalisation of the energy market, greater competition and security of supply in Ukraine," the EBRD's managing director for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, Matteo Patrone, commented. "Private gas trade also promotes greater utilisation and integration of the country’s transport and storage infrastructure with the EU gas market."
ERU Trading's head of legal, Olga Mamedova, said the agreement was "an acknowledgment that ERU Trading follows and complies with high standards and policies of doing business," and the funds would ensure reliable gas supply to Ukrainian customers in the 2021-2022 winter season.
ERU Trading's parent company, US-based ERU Corp, is also working with Poland's PGNiG on upstream gas development in west Ukraine.