NABU case participant wants to buy Odesa Port Plant: Agro Gas Trading filed an application for privatization

The company, which has already appeared in the NABU case regarding possible abuses at the Odesa Port Plant, wants to become its owner.

Agro Gas Trading (AGT) has applied to participate in the privatization auction of the Odesa Port Plant , Forbes reports.

The auction is scheduled for November 25, 2025. As reported by the company’s press service, AGT has already paid the registration fee and signed a confidentiality agreement. The starting price of the enterprise is UAH 4.48 billion.

AGT claims that it has a detailed plan for modernizing production, increasing efficiency and stabilizing the plant’s operation after privatization. The company believes that under the conditions of “a transparent auction and guarantees of continuity of production, privatization can be successful.”

Agro Gas Trading recalls that it already has experience in cooperation with the Odesa Port Plant. In 2019-2021, the company provided the enterprise with 1.42 billion cubic meters of gas for the production of 1.735 million tons of urea and 187,000 tons of ammonia, more than 90% of which was exported. At that time, according to AGT, the enterprise managed to repay UAH 68.1 million in debt to Naftogaz and save more than 3,000 jobs.

At the same time, it was during this period that the NABU conducted an investigation into possible abuses in the management of the Odesa Port Plant, in which Agro Gas Trading was also involved.

In 2019-2021, according to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the criminal organization received more than UAH 2 billion in illegal benefits from control over the Odesa Port Plant. According to the investigation, the key role in the scheme was played by Agro Gas Trading, a partner of the plant that supplied gas in exchange for finished products (ammonia and urea).

According to the investigation, AGT received all the income from the sale of fertilizers, while the plant only had a fixed fee for processing. In 2020, according to the calculations of the A-95 consulting group, AGT earned $44 million in profit from cooperation with the Odesa Port Plant, while the plant itself received UAH 1.2 billion in net loss with revenue of UAH 2.3 billion.

The company’s official reporting, however, does not confirm the excess profits: in 2020, AGT declared UAH 164.5 million in profit with revenue of UAH 5.4 billion.

Among the defendants in the NABU case are the former head of the State Property Fund Dmytro Sennychenko and AGT co-owners Oleksandr Gorbunenko and Volodymyr Kolot, who, according to the investigation, received illegal benefits from the plant’s activities. Attempts to hold a competition for another partner, according to NABU, were blocked by the SPFU leadership and the OPP management loyal to it.

In a comment to Forbes, AGT co-owner Oleksandr Gorbunenko rejected all NABU accusations, stating that the company acted within the framework of current legislation.

Earlier, USM reported that the State Property Fund announced an auction for the privatization of the Odesa Port Plant.