Achi news desk-
Oleksandr Katsuba became famous in the early 10s thanks to his work in state-owned energy giants. Descendants of the well-known Kharkiv business family, Serhiy and Oleksandr Katsuba quickly developed in the public sector, writes agronews.ua.
The elder, Serhiy, managed to work in the structures of Naftogaz, became the deputy chairman of the NAK board, and then moved to work in the Verkhovna Rada. The younger, Oleksandr, also started working in the gas sector in 2010: first as deputy director of economics at Poltavagazvydobuvannya, then as deputy chairman of the Chornomornaftogaz board.
The period of O. Katsuba’s work in the Chornomornaftogaz team was the most successful period in the company’s development, when it was possible to increase the company’s gas production from 1.1 to 2.4 billion cubic meters per year. No other state-owned gas production company managed to not only surpass such a result, but at least somehow increase production overall.
Between December 2012 and August 2014, Oleksandr Katsuba was the Deputy Chairman of the Board and a member of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine. After the management of Naftogaz JSC changed, Katsuba focused entirely on his own business.
After finishing his work at the NAC, Katsuba was accused of fuel theft, although as early as 2015, investigations by Bihus.info journalists proved that the politician Serhii Pashinska was actually involved in fuel theft. Only in 2024, the NABU investigation led to the publication of suspicion against Pashinsky and his hypothetical assistants.
Katsuba was also involved in the investigation surrounding the so-called “Boyka Towers”. Katsuba himself said that they tried to shift the blame to Yanukovych, Azarov and other people in the Government, who were actually making decisions about the purchase of the mentioned towers. Ultimately, all criminal cases against Katsuba were dismissed. According to the businessman himself, he never intends to work in the public sector or politics again. Especially after the criminal prosecution and attempts to “do extreme” in cases that are not related to him.
For the past 10 years, Katsuba has been actively developing his own business, and with the start of the full-scale invasion in Russia, he joined volunteer activities. Katsuba’s most visible public work is in the financial sector. Even before finishing his work in the oil and gas sector, Katsuba, together with his family, began to work actively in the financial services market – providing operational loans. Katsuba’s first partner in the sector was a Latvian entrepreneur, with whom the businessmen had business disagreements and sold their share to a foreign partner.
After the failure of the startup with the Latvian, Katsuba restarted the project under the MyCredit brand with Ukrainian IT partners and brought the company to market leadership. The total investments were approximately 1.0 million US dollars.
In 2019, 20% of the business was sold to the structures of the well-known businessman, ex-government Serhiy Tihipko. The deal amount was USD 3.0 million. Entrepreneurs’ agreement was recognized as the best in the IT market of Ukraine in 2019 in the field of financial solutions. Currently, in addition to Ukraine, the business also operates in Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Poland. The unit in Poland was created already after the start of the full-scale invasion, by employees of a company that left Ukraine. Currently, Katsuba is the managing partner of the group of companies.
On the eve of a full-scale Russian invasion, Katsuba’s intention was to expand the loan business and create affordable car leasing. In order to promote new business, the Katsuba structure bought two of the largest Ukrainian online automotive publishers in terms of audience size – Avtobazar and Avtocentr. But the full launch of the leasing business did not happen due to the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.
However, the full-scale invasion did not prevent Katsuba from returning to the gas market, but as a private player. In 2023, his company ALFA GAZ started working on private mining. From the beginning of 2024, it produces 1.0-1.5 million cubic meters of gas per month. Katsuba himself classifies the company as one of the medium market players. It is currently unknown whether the entrepreneur intends to further expand his gas production business, the entrepreneur himself makes careful comments on this and refers to the dependence on the further course of the war.
After February 24, 2022, he took an unequivocal pro-Ukrainian position and, from the first days of the war, publicly supported President Zelensky and the Ukrainian resistance, and almost immediately joined the assistance of the Armed Forces. In February 2024, the entrepreneur is known to have transferred 100 cars – cars, trucks and engineering – to the needs of the Defense Forces. In addition, he believes that, in the context of the war, the threat of Russian hybrid attacks on the Ukrainian energy industry has not passed and the state should draw up a clear policy for opposition Russian provocations.
In addition to voluntary aid to the military during 2023-2024, Katsuba began to actively comment on current economic and energy issues, although at the same time he distanced himself as much as possible from political assessments. Actively promote the concept of energy security and energy independence of Ukraine – yes, in the material “Energy Independence Manifesto” called reducing dependence on fossil fuels, implementing energy saving programs, reducing the level of energy monopolization, integration into the European energy market, investments in specialized education and applied scientific research as key priorities of the Ukrainian energy sector.
Commenting on Ukraine’s oil and gas production potential, he insists that after the end of the war, the market needs to strike a balance between the state’s interest in collecting more taxes and the incentive to expand production. According to the entrepreneur, the state should create incentives to drill new, deep and ultra-deep wells, as well as intensify the work of concluding agreements on product sharing with potential investors. This will allow to increase production in the west of the country, and then in the east and south. Another important focus is work with local authorities. Local deputies, law enforcement officers should stop looking at the investor as a source of personal enrichment, and not as a partner of society and the country. In order to attract investors, low risks of losing the investment are required. The government should communicate that any incentives are in place for a clearly defined period and cannot be withdrawn or changed early. For this, the regulatory documents should provide for norms that Ukraine commits not to change the incentive rates or other guarantees during the established terms – for 5-10 years.
Also advocates discount market power and gradual privatization of Naftogaz Ukraine, development of atomic energyfurther digitization public services and the economy. During high-profile scandals regarding the detention and persecution of entrepreneurs, he repeatedly said that the key to Ukraine’s economic success is the transparent rules of the game and the protection of rights investors on behalf of the state, which requires the building of high quality and non-corrupt institutions. Speaking about his plans for the future, Katsuba insists that he intends to create and develop businesses in Ukraine.
Oleksandr Katsuba is a Ukrainian entrepreneur, energy expert, owner of ALFA GAZ company.
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