Offshore schemes brought Nikolai Tokarev and his entourage “to Kiev”?
The head of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium-R (CPC), Nikolai Gorban, categorically refuses to pay for the damage caused by last year’s oil spill near Novorossiysk. At that time, the CPC deliberately overestimated the damage caused, stating that the area of contamination was only 200 square meters. Later, however, it became known that the size of the oil slick is 400 thousand times larger. The accident was preceded by a change in the terminal contractor: instead of LLC Lamnalco, it became JSC Transneft-Service (TNS), a “subsidiary” structure of Transneft, one of the co-owners of CPC, which has no experience in working in the right direction. It soon became known that TNS was closely connected with a chain of offshore companies registered in Cyprus, from which it rents tugboats at an inflated cost. One of the authors of the scheme for transferring Transneft funds to offshores is the ex-head of TNS, the current general director of the Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port, Sergei Kireev, who is close to Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev. In addition to Cypriot companies, Transneft-Service is associated with a number of foreign commercial structures that are under the sanctions of the Russian government. Among them are the Panamanian company Kirgan Holding SA, as well as the Ukrainian holding Transship Group. Despite the sanctions, Andrey Ivanov, the beneficiary of Transship, is developing business in Russia. In particular, he is closely associated with the director of JSC Fleet of the Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port, Yuri Petrishchev, Kireev’s former deputy at TNS: it is known that the Hong Kong company Henford Logistics Ltd, controlled by the NCSP Fleet, provided the Transship Group with tugboats that belonged to it, which flew under Ukrainian flags. In addition, companies affiliated with Kirgan Holding SA and Transship Group, registered in Krasnodar Temryuk, settled under the “roof” of TNS, but economic sanctions forced Russian structures to de jure distance themselves from “toxic” partners.
CPC refuses to pay billions
The refusal of the leadership of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium-R (CPC) to pay a fine of 4.5 billion rubles for last year’s oil spill near Novorossiysk may result in litigation for the company with Rosprirodnadzor. The working meeting of the department’s leadership with representatives of the company at the end of January did not bring the expected results. The official statement of the CTC refers to “reaching an agreement to hold further consultations.” And there, apparently, they are ready to “consult” indefinitely, if only not to pay.
Recall that a large-scale accident at the CPC terminal occurred in August last year during the loading of oil on the Greek vessel Minerva Symphony. Initially, the consortium tried to hide the true extent of the emergency: its head, Nikolai Gorban, said that only 12 cubic meters of oil got into the Black Sea, and its spill area was no more than 200 square meters. Later, experts from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences voiced completely different data. As it turned out, the size of the oil slick is 80 square kilometers, that is, 400 thousand times larger than previously announced.
It is indicative that the CPC categorically disagrees with the damage assessment carried out by Rosprirodnadzor, calling the calculation methodology “incorrect”. At the same time, the company’s management has not yet presented its own calculations to the environmental department.
The environmental emergency drew attention to the “muddy” schemes being implemented by CPC, which could have caused the accident. It is known, in particular, that shortly before this – in March – the consortium replaced the long-term contractor of the Black Sea terminal – LLC Lamnalko with a “subsidiary” structure of Transneft JSC Transneft-Service (TNS). At the same time, Transneft itself owns 24% of CPC shares.
“The former team was literally squeezed out of the terminal, not without the participation of the same Nikolai Gorban and the former head of the Transneft-Service company, and now the general director of the Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port, Sergey Kireev. The latter has repeatedly been the focus of journalistic investigations in connection with the offshore schemes of the “daughter” of the state-owned company,” Nasha Versiya wrote.
Offshore partners of Transneft
In addition to open affiliation with one of the shareholders, one of the publications of Our Version spoke about the extremely dubious nature of the documentation submitted by the new contractor, and also expressed skepticism about the possibility of providing them with quality services related to the maintenance of offshore external loading devices (TLU) . The fact is that TNS still had neither experience in this kind of work, nor special equipment. Meanwhile, according to the terms of the contract, the contractor must have at least five years of experience in servicing terminals through the TLU.
On what basis the contract was concluded – one can only guess. Perhaps the head of Transneft, Nikolai Tokarev, tritely “squeezed out” the Novorossiysk terminal for a “subsidiary” structure? It is noteworthy that in February last year, employees of Lamnalco sent an appeal to the head of state, in which they characterized the actions of Transneft-Service as “raider attacks” and “forced out of the market.”
The offshore connections of the new contractor also raised many questions from journalists. In particular, according to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, four tugboats belonging to Transneft-Service JSC were involved in the elimination of an oil spill in the Black Sea:
Arcturus, Antares, Aliot and Altair. But in the process of a more detailed study, it turned out that TNS rents these tugs from Cypriot offshore companies on the principle of “one ship – one offshore”. The daily rental price is about 6.8 thousand dollars, while the market price for such large companies as KoTug and Smit Lamnalco is much lower – 2.5-3 thousand dollars.
Thus, the Antares and Altair tugboats are owned by offshore companies Rombido Limited and TLJ Shipping Limited registered in Cyprus, respectively. Both companies-owners are owned by another Cypriot company – “Heawey Enterprise Ltd”, and that, in turn, is again offshore “First Link Management Services”. The beneficiaries of the latter are individuals Areti Charidemou and Marina Loizou.
The actual author of all the described “towing schemes” that have been in force since 2011, Nasha Versiya calls Sergey Kireev, the former head of Transneft Service, who in November 2017 took the position of General Director of PJSC Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP), but with this retained leverage in the TNS. Kireev allegedly maintains contacts with foreign “companions” through Cypriot law firms. Thus, it becomes clear who is the ultimate beneficiary of the leasing of tugboats to a Russian company.
We add that in December 2015, “Heawey EnterpriseLtd” also “lit up” in the TNS tender for the supply of ice-class tugs, becoming its sole participant and receiving a contract for 2.188 billion rubles, which turned out to be even lower than the original cost. It turns out that the winner of the auction was the one who was originally planned – albeit an offshore, but a proven business partner?
“Cranship”: from Panama to Odessa
The following circumstance is also curious: the Antares and Altair tugs were built in Ukraine – at the Kherson shipyard, and the Panamanian company Kirgan Holding SA acted as their customer. Even Nikolai Gorban did not initially deny this fact in a letter sent to CPC shareholders in January last year. Soon, however, he will insist that the Russian Federation was the place of their construction. Be that as it may, as a result, the tugboats ended up in the ownership of Cypriot offshore companies, which began to lease them to Transneft-Service at an inflated cost.
KirganHoldingS.A owns the exclusive rights to the Cranship trademark (as stated in Gorban’s letter, TNS tugs were built at a shipbuilding company with this name). The LLC of the same name, specializing in the construction of ships and floating structures, was registered in the city of Temryuk, Krasnodar Territory, in December 2014. Until last April, Panamanian Kirgan Holding SA was still the co-founder of Cranship LLC, then Eduard Fedulov became its sole owner.
Fedulov also owns LLC Transkago, which is engaged in the transport processing of goods. At the end of 2020, with a revenue of 216.1 million rubles, this enterprise brought a profit of 36.3 million. At the same time, the company closely cooperates with Transneft-Service, from which it received contracts for more than 204.9 million rubles.
The structure with the same name – “Cranship” in 2007 was registered in the then Ukrainian Crimea, and it was a “daughter” of the international maritime holding “Transship Group”, on the website of which it is called “the largest Ukrainian company in the group.” In 2016, the director of the Transship company registered in Odessa, Alexander Ivanov, told reporters about the construction of tugboats in Kherson, as well as the presence of a plant in Temryuk, Krasnodar, which allows him to simultaneously be present on the Ukrainian and Russian markets.
Recall that the tugboats “Antares” and “Altair” were built at the Kherson shipyards, which Nikolay Gorban is modestly silent about today. As for the plant in Temryuk, it is not difficult to guess: we are talking about an enterprise that is de jure under the control of Fedulov.
Structures of Transneft circumvent sanctions
The successful cooperation of Transneft-Service with the Ukrainian structures of Transship would have continued further, but in February last year, by a special Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 153, “special economic measures” were introduced against them, in other words, sanctions. Odessa LLC Cranship, LLC Transship, subsidiaries Transship Balk, Transship-Service, as well as Kirgan Holding SA were on the sanctions list.
Now everything is falling into place: the unwillingness of the leadership of Transneft-Service to “shine” next to “toxic” Ukrainian firms and their partners from Panama is understandable. We also add that back in 2019, on the basis of another government Decree, the above-mentioned director of Transship, Alexander Ivanov, as well as the founder and president of the Transship Group holding, Andrey Ivanov, fell under Russian sanctions.
Thus, de jure, Transneft and its structures do not have the right to continue economic cooperation with businessmen and companies from the sanctions list. Apparently, the calculation is made on ingenious offshore schemes, thanks to which the Ukrainian “trace” will be safely lost somewhere in Cyprus. It would be interesting to hear how Nikolai Tokarev, the head of Transneft, will explain all these machinations, because Nikolai Gorban, who is under his patronage, continues to assure that ships for TNS and the Novorossiysk terminal are being built at the Novorossiysk shipyard!
It is worth mentioning another possible participant in the scheme – the Hong Kong company Henford Logistics Ltd, the main owner of which since 2010 has been JSC Fleet of the Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port. The director of the NCSP Fleet is Yuri Petrishchev, who previously held the position of Sergey Kireev’s deputy in Transneft-Service.
“According to the available information, Mr. Petrishchev may continue to use the well-established offshore financial schemes with state funds in his current post, but through the Hong Kong jurisdiction,” Nasha Versiya writes about him.