Naftogaz: Transfer of 2 bln cubic meters of gas to Ukrnafta by court officer is groundless
A representative of Ukraine's State Enforcement Service on June 3 groundlessly transferred around 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas to public joint-stock company Ukrnafta, allegedly removing it from the underground gas storage facility managed by public joint-stock company Ukrtransgaz, the owner of 50% plus one share in Ukrnafta and 100% in Ukrtransgaz, Naftogaz Ukrainy, has said.
"Gas to Ukrnafta was transferred by the court officer in Kyiv using the fake enforcement act," the company said in a press release on Tuesday.
According to the report, the court officer used court decision No. 6/251 issued by the business court in Kyiv in May 2014, while on March 30, 2016 Naftogaz Ukrainy filed an application to review the case in relation to new circumstances. Naftogaz said that Ukrtransgaz has not signed an agreement to store gas with Ukrnafta and has not accepted this amount of gas for storage and has no legal grounds for transferring gas to Ukrnafta.
The holding said that the court officer violated the procedure for seizing assets. The officer drew up the act on the alleged removal of natural gas from the underground storage facility in Kyiv near the central office of Ukrtransgaz.
Naftogaz said that gas mentioned in the court decision was produced by Ukrnafta in 2006 and it was sent for the needs of households under a government decision. The gas monopolist said that as prescribed in the Ukrainian law, Ukrnafta was to sell all commodity gas produced by the company to Naftogaz Ukrainy at the price set by the regulator. This gas was sold to households.
"Starting from 2005, Ukrnafta's managements avoided registeingr sales and purchase agreements with Naftogaz Ukrainy, explaining this by low prices set by the regulator. Naftogaz several times expressed its readiness to register Ukrnafta's gas at the price set by the regulator," the holding said.