Business continuity

Modern challenges such as global crises, pandemics, armed conflicts, and climate change require territorial communities to possess a high level of adaptability and resilience. These factors can significantly destabilize local economies, leading to job losses, lower living standards, and a deteriorating investment climate. In such circumstances, businesses become not just participants in economic activity but key drivers of territorial recovery and development.

The economic resilience of communities largely depends on businesses’ ability to maintain local economic stability, stimulate entrepreneurial activity, and foster innovation. Enterprises operating in communities can adapt their strategies to changing conditions, ensuring employment, introducing new technologies, and driving economic growth through investment and the creation of new markets. In addition, businesses can take an active part in social initiatives aimed at improving quality of life, supporting educational and medical institutions, and developing infrastructure.

The full-scale invasion has become a severe test for Ukraine’s economy. Many enterprises, particularly in the eastern and northern regions, were forced to halt operations or urgently relocate. This situation hit local communities hard: tax revenues fell, jobs disappeared, and social programs were put at risk.

Unlike most enterprises that can relocate to safer regions, Ukrgasvydobuvannya cannot move its production capacities – the process of hydrocarbon extraction is inherently tied to specific deposits located in certain territories.

Revenues from the company make up as much as 61% of total local budget income in some communities. In many cases, Ukrgasvydobuvannya is a budget-forming enterprise, with key payments including rent fees (linked to production volume) and personal income tax (PIT).

A production shutdown would mean economic collapse for local communities and a loss of the country’s energy independence. Gas extraction is a strategic industry that determines Ukraine’s ability to provide its own energy resources.

The company’s management faced an exceptionally difficult challenge: how to ensure production continuity – even in frontline conditions – while protecting employees and maintaining vital contributions to local budgets that thousands of people depend on.

Solution

The economic resilience of a community is defined as its ability to withstand external and internal shocks, recover from crises, and ensure sustainable growth. It involves factors such as economic diversification, employment stability, innovation, and effective local governance. High economic resilience helps minimize the impact of downturns, enables adaptation to new conditions, and supports long-term development strategies.

Since relocating gas production is impossible – deposits cannot be moved – JSC Ukrgasvydobuvannya adopted a strategy of adaptation and continuity, focusing on stable operations, employee safety, and community support, despite constant shelling of company facilities across Ukraine. The company operates in 146 territorial communities, representing about 10% of all communities in the country.

“Continuity of production and timely payment of taxes are key drivers of sustainable development for both local communities and the state. For our company, this is not a matter of choice, but of responsibility: we cannot relocate, since gas extraction is inseparable from the location of deposits. That’s why we continue operating even in frontline communities, ensuring stable local budget revenues, job retention, and support for critical infrastructure. Today’s business resilience is the foundation of Ukraine’s recovery after victory and a guarantee of its energy independence.” – Vitalii Chudak, Head of the Department of Land Relations and Community Engagement, JSC Ukrgasvydobuvannya.

First and foremost, the company ensured financial stability. Despite the risks, hostilities, and disrupted logistics, it continued to pay all taxes and rent fees in full. From 2023 to 2025, over UAH 124 billion has been transferred to budgets at various levels, including UAH 9 billion directly to local budgets, of which UAH 7.1 billion went to the communities where the company operates.

In many communities, these revenues make up a major share of total local income – for example: Donetska community (Kharkiv region): over 61% of local budget revenue; Natalynska, Senchanska, and Martynivska communities (Poltava region): over 40% each – making Ukrgasvydobuvannya the main taxpayer and development partner of the region.

The company operates mainly near small communities, where its activity plays a particularly significant role: taxes and social initiatives form a vital resource for local infrastructure and the well-being of residents – effectively serving as their development budget.

These funds are critical for maintaining community life. They enable local authorities to finance education, healthcare, road repair, shelters, utility restoration, energy efficiency projects, and support for military personnel, veterans, their families, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and socially vulnerable groups.

Equally important is employment stability. More than 18,000 employees have retained their jobs and stable incomes, providing economic security for their families and supporting local trade, services, and transportation. In wartime, stable and timely salaries have been a lifeline for thousands of families across dozens of communities nationwide.

Despite constant drone and missile attacks, the company continues gas extraction to ensure that Ukrainians have warmth in their homes and communities continue to receive revenue to support critical infrastructure.

facilities, purchase of communal equipment, and CCTV systems for public safety.

The company’s social investment in 2023–2025 exceeded UAH 121 million. Guided by the principle ‘From Local Solutions to Global Changes’, Ukrgasvydobuvannya directs its investments toward projects that lay the foundation for sustainable community development and act as catalysts for positive transformation.

Results

 The outcomes of this decision have been felt at all levels – from households to the state. Stable tax revenues in 2023–2025 have enabled communities to maintain key social services such as education, healthcare, and utilities. Local funds have been used to repair schools and hospitals, equip shelters, and finance social programs for internally displaced persons (IDPs).

“Since the start of the war, Ukrgasvydobuvannya has remained the only stable taxpayer in the Malynivska community. Other major enterprises were forced to stop operations. Our company continued gas production, ensuring the community’s survival. Thanks to these stable rent payments, we have been able to pay salaries to public sector and utility workers and resume social programs by April 2023 – supporting vulnerable groups, including large families, cancer patients, the elderly, and those in difficult circumstances.” – Mykola Semerianov, Head of Malynivska Military Administration, Kharkiv Region.

More than 18,000 jobs have been preserved, supporting local economies. Families of employees continued to receive stable incomes, allowing communities to survive even during the hardest months of the war.

Despite ongoing attacks on critical infrastructure, the company has not stopped production. Ukraine continues to receive domestically produced gas – a strategic resource that stabilizes the energy system and reduces import dependence.

The company has reinforced its reputation as a socially responsible business. Continuity of operations during wartime has proven that corporate responsibility is not just about crisis aid but a systemic approach that sustains the economy, communities, and the state.