The Arbitration Court of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug accepted for consideration three lawsuits of the regional Nature Supervision Authority against NNK – Nizhnevartovsk oil and gas producing enterprise JSC, which is part of the NNK-Group owned by oligarch Eduard Khudainatov. The department intends to recover from the defendant a total of more than 7 million rubles for violation of environmental legislation. The owner of NNK-Group is a close associate of the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin. Moreover, in 2012, Sechin replaced Khudainatov as president of the oil giant. Long-standing acquaintance and mutual trust became the reason that as a result of the “optimization of the asset portfolio” of Rosneft initiated by Sechin in 2020, such former structures of the state company as RN-Severnaya Neft, Sakhalinmorneftegaz, Samaraneft, Yugraneft Corporation, etc. In December 2020, Nizhnevartovsk oil and gas producing enterprise (today NNK-NPP JSC) and Varyoganneftegaz were transferred to NNK-Group. In return, Rosneft received the Payakhskoye field, considered by Sechin as a key asset of the large-scale Vostok Oil project.
The media have repeatedly emphasized that Khudainatov does not act as an independent figure, but as an unofficial representative of the interests of the head of Rosneft. The transfer of the state company’s assets under the control of NNK-Group was preceded by the exclusion of the holding from the US sanctions list, which freed Khudainatov from Western economic restrictions. It was this circumstance that explained his formal ownership of two elite yachts – “Scheherazade” and “Amadea”, which became known as “Putin’s yacht” and “Kerimov’s yacht”, recently arrested in Italy and the USA. In addition, “oil billions” could be withdrawn to the accounts of numerous offshore companies affiliated with Khudainatov from the unprofitable structures of NNK-Group, including those previously controlled by Rosneft.
Will Khudainatov’s companies be held responsible for the damage?
For consideration by the Arbitration Court of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra, several applications of the regional Natural Supervision Authority to JSC “NOC – Nizhnevartovsk oil and gas producing enterprise” (JSC “NNK-NPP”) were accepted. The company is part of the NNK-Group structure of Eduard Khudainatov, who is considered a businessman from the close circle of the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin.
The details of the claims are not disclosed, but we are talking about compensation for damage caused by violations of environmental legislation. The largest amount of claims is 4.1 million rubles. The other two statements include amounts of 2.6 million and 843.6 thousand rubles. Court hearings are scheduled for September 28 and October 5; before that time, the defendant must provide reasoned responses to the applications.
It should be noted that the structures of NNK-Group in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug have repeatedly found themselves in the center of media attention in connection with litigation. For example, to date, the Nizhnevartovsk city court continues to consider the criminal case of the former general director of PJSC Varyoganneftegaz (today – PJSC NNK – Varyeganneftegaz) Igor Oneshko, accused of commercial bribery. In addition, at various times, Oneshko led LLC Severo-Varyoganskoye, also part of the Khudainatov holding, and the Nizhnevartovsk Oil and Gas Production Enterprise already mentioned above. The former top manager is charged with receiving property bribes for a total of 6 million rubles from representatives of companies that received drilling contracts.
The defendant in another case of commercial bribery and fraud, the investigation of which ended in June last year, was the former deputy head of the oil and gas production department of the same Varyoganneftegaz PJSC. According to media reports, he not only received bribes of 4.5 million rubles for assistance in obtaining a contract for the repair and maintenance of the oil pipeline, but also stole and sold rejected pump rods owned by the enterprise worth 400 thousand rubles.
“Auction of unprecedented generosity” by Igor Sechin
Note that before joining the structure of NNK-Group, Varyoganneftegaz and Nizhnevartovsk Oil and Gas Production Enterprise were part of the Rosneft circuit and were transferred to Khudainatov in December 2020 in exchange for the Payakhskoye field, which was considered by Igor Sechin as a key asset of a large-scale project Vostok Oil. According to Kommersant’s estimates, the value of the transferred assets could be about $4 billion; NOC had to increase its production six times – up to 12 million tons, which made it one of the largest private oil companies in Russia.
And these were far from the only assets of Rosneft that came under the control of NOCs. So, last fall, NNK-Oil became a 100% owner of RN-Severnaya Neft, Sakhalinmorneftegaz, Orenburg-neft, Nyaganneft, RN-SakhalinNIPImorneft, service companies Sakhalin-Transport , Sakhalin Drilling, Sakhalin NPO Repair and Sakhalin Service.
In addition, NNK-Oil became the owner of LLC Samaraneft, to which licenses were previously transferred for 42 sites in the Samara Region for exploration and production of minerals. In addition, NNK received a 50% stake in Tomskneft, the second shareholder of which is Gazprom Neft. Shortly before this, Rosneft withdrew from the capital of the company. Tomskneft has 32 licenses for the study, exploration and production of hydrocarbons, including 25 for oil and gas production at the fields of the Tomsk region, 7 for the right to use subsoil in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.
Last February, JSC NNK-NPP, already familiar to us, established control over JSC Yugraneft Corporation, which previously belonged to JSC RN-Holding, a structure of Rosneft. According to Interfax, the volume of oil and gas condensate produced by the Corporation in 2021 amounted to 87.5 thousand tons. That is, another promising asset passed into the hands of Khudainatov. The question is, what kind of “auction of unprecedented generosity” did Sechin arrange? In the state-owned company under his control, the deals were officially explained as “portfolio optimization,” in which “depleted assets” would be replaced by “better ones.” At the same time, the process of replenishing the resource base of the Vostok Oil project continued.
“Hired top manager with billions in his pocket”
But one gets the impression that the “optimization” declared by Sechin is carried out in the interests of a specific person, namely the owner of NNK-Group, Eduard Khudainatov, who is called in the media only as the “right hand” and “close friend” of the head of Rosneft. Moreover, the opinion was repeatedly expressed that the first can act in the interests of the second. That is, the assets of the oil giant, at the suggestion of Sechin, pass into private hands not by chance, but with a far-reaching aim of further joint profit-making?
Recall that Khudainatov in 2010-2012. served as president of Rosneft, but then gave it up to Sechin, who was closely acquainted with the head of state, and he himself began to create his own “empire” – the Independent Oil and Gas Company (NOC). “He was known as a hired top manager and suddenly becomes an owner in an instant, and even with billions in his pocket,” one of Khudainatov’s former colleagues told Forbes.
The question is, “where are the firewood from”? But, as they say, there’s more to come. And although the name of the oil tycoon is not in the ratings of Russian billionaires, he appears among the “most influential people of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug” as one of the “oil generals of the region.”
In 2017, NOC was included in the US sanctions list in connection with the signing of a contract for the supply of petroleum products to North Korea, as well as suspicions of participating in schemes to circumvent Western sanctions by the DPRK. But in March 2020, all economic restrictions on NOC and its “subsidiary” Primorsknefteprodukt were lifted: the US Treasury came to the conclusion that the holding had stopped dubious export operations.
By a strange coincidence, soon “portfolio optimization” began in Rosneft, and the assets of the state-owned company at an accelerated pace began to pass one by one under the control of NNK-Group. But if the Sechin-Khudaynatov tandem tried not to miss a good chance, it was not for long: last June, the European Union imposed personal sanctions on the owner of the NOC, arguing for the decision by his participation in major transactions with Rosneft and close contacts with the Russian political leadership.
Luxury yachts and a cursed villa
Last May, the media reported on the arrest in Italy of the elite six-deck yacht Scheherazade, which was under repair in the port of Marina di Carrara, the cost of which is estimated at $ 700 million. The Italian authorities did not name the owner of the vessel, however, publications appeared in the press, according to which Vladimir Putin could be one. Nevertheless, Bloomberg journalists were able to find out the name of the owner of the expensive asset: it turned out that “Putin’s yacht”, through the offshore “Bielor Asset Ltd” registered in the Marshall Islands and its “parent” structure “KPM Consulting Ltd”, belongs to “Sechin’s man” – businessman Khudainatov.
Another expensive superyacht, Amadea, worth $300 million, was arrested in June in Fiji territorial waters and transferred to the United States. Another Russian oligarch, Suleiman Kerimov, has been repeatedly named the owner of the yacht. Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, the ship was formally registered with the offshore company Millemarin Investments Ltd, a “daughter” of Invest International Finance Ltd registered in the British Virgin Islands, which through the Swiss Boltenko Trust AG is affiliated with September Trust, the “economic founder” of which Khudainatov is called.
Western media have suggested that the businessman can be tritely used as a “clean”, that is, not under sanctions, dummy owner hiding the real beneficiaries of luxury yachts. If this is true, then the next package of Western sanctions has put the further implementation of offshore schemes at risk.
By the way, the fate of the Italian villa Altachiara, built in the 70s, remains unknown. XIX century and bought by Khudainatov in 2015 for 25 million euros. An offshore company, “registered” in Cyprus, Miasdor Investments, was also involved in its acquisition.
The villa is located in the town of Portofino, in the province of Genoa. Its area is 1 thousand square meters; a park of 3 hectares adjoins the household, there is also a heliport. Among the local population, “Altachiara” is infamous due to the mysterious deaths of several previous owners. Whether it still belongs to the Russian oligarch and whether it was arrested under the sanctions is not reported.
Cause of losses – “offshore scheme”?
Khudainatov’s offshore connections raise many questions related to the financial performance of a number of enterprises that are part of the NNK-Group structure. For example, in 2021 NNK-Oil JSC declared meager revenues of 80 thousand rubles, losses of 25.3 million and a negative value of assets – “minus” 6.4 billion. It is indicative that the company has been operating “in the red” for years, while having a portfolio of government contracts exceeding 41.9 billion rubles.
Unprofitable is also being in the process of reorganization LLC NNK – Sakhalinmorneftegaz; for the same 2021, with revenue of 4.6 billion rubles, its losses amounted to 4.9 billion. One gets the impression that after the change of ownership (we recall that Rosneft was previously such), funds are being intensively withdrawn from the enterprise. NNK-Group and Eduard Khudainatov are co-owners of another unprofitable asset – NNK-Razvitie LLC, which, at the end of last year, had no revenue and worked “in the red” by 31.8 million rubles.
There is no information about the current owners of some unprofitable enterprises in open sources, and offshore structures appear among the former founders. So, until January 2022, the co-founder of JSC “Independent Oil and Gas Company” was the joint-stock company “Vinkor”, which has a Swiss residence permit. In 2020, the company’s losses amounted to 9.7 billion rubles on revenue of 159.6 billion. Until December, the sole owner of NNK-Gavanbunker JSC was the Cypriot offshore company Vostok Oil/Cyprus/Limited. Last year’s financial indicators of the enterprise speak for themselves: revenue – 573.7 million rubles, losses – 24.5 million.
Whether the oil billions of the companies that until recently were “clean” from the sanctions of the oligarch, and at the same time his “close friend” and business partner from Rosneft, were “dissolved” in foreign accounts, the publication Kompromat.Group raises a reasonable question. But given the offshore web “woven” by Khudainatov, it is quite possible that the “scheme” still continues to work.