Naftogaz rejects COO interview claims

Strains between the top brass at Ukraine's Naftogaz resurfaced September 21 as the company "officially" rejected information that he gave out in an interview with Ekonomichna Pravda [Business Truth[ by its chief operating/ transformation officer Otto Arnold Waterlander, the former McKinsey management consultant. 

The company has had a rocky relationship with a number of western officers since the summary dismissal of the former CEO Andriy Kobolev at the end of April.

In a statement, Naftogaz singled out for particular scorn his claims concerning gas production costs, which "are not consistent with reality. Figures provided by Mr. Waterlander are not recorded in any known Naftogaz document," it said.

It did not say whether Waterlander's figures were too high or low, but it did say the actual cost will be published in the first-half financial statement now being drafted. The planned production costs will be specified in the financial plan to be approved by the Ukrainian government.

Naftogaz also rejected Waterlander’s information about the role of the chairman of the board and a foreign consulting company, among other alleged factual errors. It advised journalists to "fact-check future information about the company’s activities with materials disseminated via official Naftogaz communication channels."