Chief Visionary Officer (CVO) of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy Otto Waterlander has said he considers it inexpedient for the group to invest in already developed areas by purchasing existing businesses, since this will not increase the volume of gas produced within Ukraine.

"This is just stupid. I see my mission in the energy sector with Naftogaz in attracting more investors to develop new gas production and in achieving energy independence, and not for Naftogaz to dominate this sector," he said in an interview with the Economic Pravda publication, asked about the advisability of buying the Burisma group of Mykola Zlochevsky.

Waterlander also said that within the framework of the "20/20" program, which was never fully implemented, Naftogaz invested $3 billion out of the planned $4 billion. Part of the investment was directed to the purchase of new drilling rigs that will operate for at least 20 years.

"Under the 20/20 program, the company produced about 95% of all gas volumes that we promised for 2016-2020. We invested less because the company did not have access to a large number of new fields, which it counted on when developing the program," the CVO said.

According to him, if Naftogaz had not invested $3 billion at that time, the group would not have been able to stabilize production, since without investments and interventions the volume of production from the existing base of fields will be annually reduced by about 7%.