17:04 09.11.2021

Naftogaz wants to remain owner of Ukrnafta without Kolomoisky, not vice versa

3 min read
Naftogaz wants to remain owner of Ukrnafta without Kolomoisky, not vice versa

 NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, as part of the split of assets of PJSC Ukrnafta with minority shareholders, wants to remain the owner of this company without the participation of Ihor Kolomoisky and his partners in it.

"The reasoning behind the need to split up Ukrnafta includes preparation of Naftogaz for an initial public offering, attracting international partners, and fulfilling the resource potential of Ukrnafta. Naftogaz believes these tasks will be easier if Ukrnafta is not associated with I. Kolomoisky," Naftogaz said in a report published on Tuesday.

Thus, the position voiced by Naftogaz is the opposite of the option proposed in the agenda of the extraordinary meeting of shareholders scheduled for November 30, 2021. In accordance with it, it is proposed to transfer part of Ukrnafta's assets to the charter capital of the Ukrgazaktiv LLC created by it, with the subsequent purchase of a 100% stake in it by Naftogaz, the redemption by Ukrnafta from Naftogaz of 27.114 million of its shares (50% and 1 share) and their subsequent cancellation.

Earlier, in January 2021, Naftogaz sent a notice to the Supervisory Board of Ukrnafta on the need to start studying and considering the issue of splitting its assets into business areas with minority shareholders.

Naftogaz in its statement also announced its disagreement with the claims of Ukrnafta to recover 9.067 billion cubic meters of natural gas and all income that the NJSC received or could receive from its sale.

"Naftogaz's position has remained essentially unchanged since the first court hearing in this case. Naftogaz stated in this lawsuit that the court shall apply the statute of limitations to Ukrnafta’s claims, as the circumstances to which Ukrnafta refers in the lawsuit were known to it more than three years before the lawsuit was filed… Naftogaz also provided information to the court that earlier in other lawsuits, the company stated the need to oblige Ukrnafta to enter into a sales contract for disputed volumes of gas, taking into account the fact that this gas was consumed by households and that Naftogaz was sending letters to Ukrnafta starting from 2006 with a proposal to enter into a sales contract for the disputed gas," Naftogaz said.

In this regard, Naftogaz does not agree with Ukrnafta's demands on the transfer of disputed gas volumes to it or compensation for the cost of disputed gas volumes at the current market price.

Naftogaz recalled that in February 2021, the Stockholm Court of Arbitration recognized its lack of jurisdiction in a lawsuit filed by Ukrnafta's minority shareholders who wanted to collect more than $6 billion from Ukraine and interest accrued on that amount.

At the same time, Ukrnafta resumed the dispute in the Ukrainian courts, appealing to the Economic Court of Kyiv on April 29, 2021 with a demand to consider this case on merits.

"Naftogaz does not deny the fact that the gas produced by Ukrnafta entered the unified gas transmission system operated by JSC Ukrtransgaz. The bulk of this gas was consumed by households. Naftogaz proved this in court. Ukrnafta, in turn, initially argued that it was not its gas that was used for household needs. Later, Ukrnafta changed its position and admitted that the disputed volumes of gas were supplied for the needs of households and made claims to have the disputed volumes of natural gas returned to it," Naftogaz said.

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