A real sensation could be the cancellation by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the largest contract between Gazprom and Denis Safin’s Zagorsk Pipe Plant (ZTZ) in the amount of 41 billion rubles. The complaint was filed by the STOPcartel public organization. This was reported by the correspondent of The Moscow Post. But an even greater sensation could be the arrival of security officials to Safin. For this they have every reason.
Rospres reports.
The head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, who has long been in conflict with Gazprom, may be behind the statement to the FAS. The head of the antimonopoly department, Igor Artemiev, has previously worked with Sechin and usually acts on his side. So it was in the conflict between Rosneft and Transneft. Well, the public organization “STOPkrtel” periodically declaring itself, probably, could be chosen as a “cover” for the true intentions of Igor Sechin – to put a “pig” on Gazprom.
It seems that in this case the head of Rosneft may pursue far-reaching plans. Market experts have long suspected that ZTZ is affiliated with Gazprom. Otherwise, neither the unexpected rise of the ZTZ, nor the behavior of the gas giant on the market can be explained. They behave this way only when there is complete confidence that you will not be left without contractors.
Alexey Miller could organize the “pipe business” himself. And this is precisely what explains Gazprom’s obviously ostentatious position on the market, where it tries to dictate its terms to pipe manufacturers. And Denis Safin can only be a “cover”. It is possible that Igor Sechin has evidence of this. And he launched an “attack” on Gazprom with the help of the FAS. Then the security forces can join in. Of course, they will not come to Miller, but to Safin – easily.
Miller’s trumpet call?
The behavior of Alexey Miller in the market simply amazes its participants. The agreement with ZTZ was concluded after the main market participants Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) of Dmitry Pumpyansky, United Metallurgical Company (OMK) of Anatoly Sedykh, Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant of Andrey Komarov and Izhora Pipe Plant (part of Severstal of Alexei Mordashov), and ZTZ also refused to participate in the tender for the supply of 601.9 thousand tons of pipes.
How well thought out! ZTZ refused together with everyone else, so that later, without a competition, it would become the only supplier. Yes, here everything is sewn with white thread! The market price drops, the auction is declared invalid, and then the contract is concluded with the one with whom it was, apparently, originally planned. ZTZ becomes the sole supplier for the second time. The first three-year contract was signed at the end of 2017.
Alexey Miller can be a co-owner of ZTZ?
This and the last contract dated November 19 allow the plant to be 100% loaded. After that, information appeared that the plant could not cope with orders and was buying pipes from other manufacturers. And what’s the point of it if all market participants refused to sell their pipes at unfair, in their opinion, price? Gazprom was not sold, but ZTZ will be sold. It looks like some kind of all-Russian pipe conspiracy. The appearance of such information could be an “attack” on ZTZ. The main market participants did not even comment on this absurdity.
But on this information, ZTZ itself was excellently promoted. According to Denis Safin, he is ready to supply pipes to Gazprom at a price 15-20% cheaper than the market. And thanks to ZTZ, the cost of large-diameter pipes (LDP) for Gazprom has decreased by 30% compared to 2016. Safin is just great! Where else can you find a contractor who cares not about his own profit, but about saving the customer. And everyone is happy with it! Gazprom, in the eyes of the public, besieges “pipe grabbers” and saves state money. And ZTZ is 99.4% secured by Gazprom’s orders.
How does Safin earn money?
Representatives of the main market participants say that Gazprom offers tenders for the pipe at the price of a steel sheet for it. It is hard to imagine that a gas monopolist does not know how much a new pipe can cost on the market. Then what can Denis Safin earn on? The volume of volumes, and the cost of production has not been canceled. If you do not take into account that all pipe manufacturers have entered into a cartel and deliberately keep the price above the market.
This is evidenced by the conclusion by Gazprom of an agreement with TMK in the amount of 21 billion rubles. in early November, after the boycott announced by the pipe workers. Perhaps Dmitry Pumpyansky backtracked. The price for 1 ton only slightly exceeds the price of the contract with ZTZ. Maybe he really can’t handle it, but there will always be strikebreakers on the market. The main thing is to keep the brand, which Gazprom is doing successfully, having such a contractor as ZTZ.
The price reduction of 15-20% offered by Denis Safin is hardly possible to achieve due to a technological breakthrough. But if you sell old, but restored pipes to the customer, then this is probably possible. And if Gazprom also provides old pipes, then you can get rich in general. True, the possibility of accidents will increase significantly, but who cares. I cleaned the pipe, stamped it as if it were new, and off we went. With such a “technology” no modern production is able to argue.
About 7 years ago there was a major scandal. The Promyshlennye Tekhnologii company has delivered restored pipes to Transneft. The Insulation Pipe Plant (ITZ), which is now part of the ZTZ, was engaged in cleaning them from rust, insulation and setting a new stamp. Then, for some reason, the “restorers” were not touched, only the supplier suffered. Perhaps the “ability” of the ITZ was duly appreciated by Miller and Egorov and put to use. If so, then the low price is quite understandable.
The large state-owned company Gazprom probably values its reputation very much. How could Alexey Miller contact Denis Safin and his companies if he has nothing to do with them?
Profit of ZTZ LLC – minus 29 thousand rubles. And ZTZ JSC – minus 727 million rubles. And this is with a revenue of 14 billion rubles. (!) Yes, here it is not necessary to contact the FAS, but to the investigators. Perhaps they will suspect Denis Safin of tax evasion or withdrawal of money from enterprises. The total amount of contracts with the structures of Gazprom – 19 billion rubles And where is the money?
The same is true for the ITS. With revenue of 408 million rubles. profit – minus 151 million rubles. What other evidence do investigators need to visit Denis Safin?
They can remember Denis Safin and his old cases. In 2017, he was placed under house arrest on suspicion of fraud. Safin was suspected of wasting subsidies from the Ministry of Industry and Trade in an “inappropriate way”. He could illegally receive money to compensate for interest on a Sberbank loan. The amount of damage amounted to 133 million rubles. This was written by The Moscow Post.
Safin had to return the money. However, the absence of corpus delicti was recorded only two months later. Probably, it was beneficial for someone that Denis Safin remained at large. His destiny lay ahead of him.
If Igor Sechin is really behind the complaint to the FAS, then for Denis Safin everything can be very serious. It may not be! The powerful of this world know how to negotiate among themselves. And they are unlikely to care about the fate of workers and ordinary citizens who may suffer from accidents on pipelines. Perhaps the appeal to the FAS is just part of the campaign directed against Alexei Miller.
However, the results of the financial activities of Denis Safin’s enterprises are clearly visible. It doesn’t matter who is behind it. The grand pipe hoax may soon come to an end. And it will be absolutely fair for other market participants.
