29 Facts About Andriy Kobolyev

Andriy Kobolyev is a Ukrainian politician and businessman, and the former chief executive officer of Ukrainian largest company, the state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz.

In October 2014, Kobolyev was named a global "Top 40 under 40" leader by Fortune in recognition of his anti-corruption reform successes.

From 2020, Andriy Kobolyev has been a member of the supervisory board of Ukrainian telecommunications company Kyivstar.

In January 2023, Andriy Kobolyev was indicted for allegedly "paying himself" more than the statutory maximum allowed a state-owned enterprise employee in the form of a bonus he was awarded by the independent Naftogaz Supervisory Board, pursuant to a Ukrainian government-approved contract, for winning US $4.63 billion from Russia's PJSC Gazprom in the Stockholm Arbitration cases.

The charges against Andriy Kobolyev were viewed by former colleagues and anti-corruption activists as part of a Ukrainian government effort to eliminate prominent reformers and punish potential political rivals.

The son of a scientist and an English teacher, Andriy Kobolyev was born in Kyiv on August 16,1978.

Andriy Kobolyev studied abroad in the US State of Iowa during his secondary school years.

Andriy Kobolyev started his career in PricewaterhouseCoopers, starting while he was still in university.

Andriy Kobolyev joined Naftogaz in 2002 as a consultant on corporate strategy.

From 2010 to 2014, Andriy Kobolyev was an adviser at AYA Capital private investment and banking group.

Andriy Kobolyev took over as CEO of Naftogaz in March 2014 after the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity.

Andriy Kobolyev believed Ukraine has the potential to become self-sufficient in natural gas given its sizable reserves if a collaborative plan between the company, government, and private sector is devised.

Andriy Kobolyev sought to loosen the grip of business and political leaders on Naftogaz, a key foreign policy for western governments because of the traditionally outsized presence of corruption in Ukraine's energy sector.

Andriy Kobolyev pressed the Ukrainian government, overseen from April 2016 to August 2019 by Prime Minister Groysman, to scrap the regulations known as the Public Service Obligation that required Naftogaz as the country's gas monopoly to supply the non-paying intermediaries, known as oblagaz, with gas to it could be supplied to retail consumers, such as hospitals.

Andriy Kobolyev said his pleas to reform the system fell on deaf ears.

Andriy Kobolyev tried to minimize the corrupt role in Ukraine's energy sector of oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi, a grizzled media, and banking tycoon.

Andriy Kobolyev worked to transform Naftogaz into a competitor in the regional energy market capable of generating needed cash.

Andriy Kobolyev was credited with overseeing an energy overhaul that helped Ukraine to narrow its budget deficit, and leading the former Soviet republic to a multibillion-dollar win in a legal dispute with Russian energy giant Gazprom in 2018.

Andriy Kobolyev was frequently maligned as a consequence of his efforts to keep corporate governance reforms in place at the company, with the justification that those reforms were the reason why the company was becoming profitable.

In 2020, Zelensky authorized Andriy Kobolyev receiving the bonus pursuant to the contract, and the Ukrainian government paid him accordingly as a reward for winning the Stockholm Arbitration.

In January 2023, citing the bonus, Andriy Kobolyev was indicted for allegedly "paying himself" more than the statutory maximum allowed a state-owned enterprise employee.

The charges against Andriy Kobolyev are widely viewed as part of a Ukrainian government effort to eliminate reformers and punish potential political rivals.

Naftogaz, led by Andriy Kobolyev, prepared well for market liberalization and outperformed its plans in terms of client portfolio growth, increasing its customer base 2.5 times from 251 thousand households as of August 1,2020, to 619 thousand households by the end of 2020.

In November 2015, an unidentified gunman fired shots just over the roof of Andriy Kobolyev's car, hitting his house as he was leaving on a business trip.

Andriy Kobolyev remarked at the time that the attempt on his life happened because of his anti-corruption activities, which made him many enemies in Ukraine, and was an act of intimidation.

In January 2019, Andriy Kobolyev donated 11 months' salary to charity, from February 2019 to the end of 2019.

The total amount of money Andriy Kobolyev donated during 2019 was UAH 11.4 million.

The supervisory board, which the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine temporarily suspended in order to seize the control necessary to dismiss Andriy Kobolyev, resigned en masse in response effective May 14,2021.

Andriy Kobolyev is the CEO of Eney, diversified decarbonization and clean energy company that builds and invests in projects that advance the Energy Transition in Ukraine and other Eastern European and Central Asian countries.