Samotlorneftegaz melted tons of used pipes with multimillion-dollar losses and land pollution in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug
The structures of NK Rosneft – Orenburgneft and Samotlorneftegaz – found themselves at the epicenter of confrontations related to used pipelines.
The capital organization “Forpost” filed claims against the oil workers, which undertook to pay for the decommissioned infrastructure by dismantling it on its own. But the partnership in the case of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug ended in a series of major conflicts: a power line was damaged, according to Samotlorneftegaz, Forpost carried out unauthorized dismantling of the pipeline, which resulted in soil contamination in the area of the Samotlor field, and the financial settlements of the parties became the subject of arbitration proceedings . The process revealed the very remarkable claims of Forpost, which leased a Toyota Camry allegedly “in order to serve construction crews on the licensed territory of Samotlorneftegaz,” and the dubious behavior of oil workers, who actually forced the buyer of used pipes to accept unfavorable conditions. As a result, the first instance ordered the Rosneft asset to return tens of millions to its partner, which, however, apparently did not suit any of the parties who had already filed complaints.
The appeal will consider complaints from companies in the dispute between Forpost LLC (Moscow) and Samotlorneftegaz JSC (part of Rosneft Oil Company; Nizhnevartovsk). The first instance, after offsetting counterclaims, determined to recover more than 50.2 million rubles from Samotlorneftegaz.
The conflict revolved around used pipes. As follows from the documents, the Rosneft asset decided to sell significant volumes of decommissioned underground pipelines to the Moscow company. “Forpost”, in turn, in accordance with the instructions, had to dismantle and pay for goods and materials (inventory).
Photo: yamalgazinvest.gazprom.ru
Tens of millions of rubles went into the accounts of oil workers, but the work was never completed and was “frozen” after an incident with soil contamination. According to Forpost, the company eliminated all the comments and tried to return to the execution of the contract, but to no avail.
After this, the businessmen went to court, presenting large demands against Samotlorneftegaz. In particular, Forpost demanded to recover an advance payment for untransferred goods in the amount of 50 million rubles, interest for the use of other people’s funds, as well as losses resulting from the illegal suspension of work by Samotlorneftegaz in the amount of 173.1 million and lost profits in the amount of 96 million.
Thus, representatives of the Moscow company included, for example, multimillion-dollar lease agreements for vehicles for dismantling work as losses. Very noteworthy items were also included, such as leasing agreements for several Toyota Camry cars, allegedly concluded “for the purpose of servicing construction crews in the Samotlorneftegaz licensed territory, as well as monitoring production activities” and “to resolve organizational issues of a production nature with “ Samotlorneftegaz.
The wages of Forpost’s full-time employees since the suspension of construction and installation work in the amount of 27.6 million rubles were also classified as losses. “In the interests of maintaining qualified personnel, an efficient team of the organization and maintaining the functional activities of the company during forced downtime,” the company’s position noted.
However, the court satisfied only part of the described requirements. They concerned prepayment. On this issue, the parties disagreed on the volumes of goods and materials exported by the plaintiff.
As noted in the case, Samotlorneftegaz issued 21 orders for dismantling in a total amount of 6.7 thousand tons out of 19 thousand determined by the agreement. Orders were issued in the amount of 70.899 million, and Forpost, according to invoices for the release of materials, actually exported a little more than 2.16 thousand tons.
“Claiming that the plaintiff removed 6.7 thousand tons of pipe, the defendant (“Samotlorneftegaz.” – Ed.) does not present the documents provided for in the contract,” the court noted, emphasizing that the oil workers also referred to the additional agreement and presented their estimate of the return prepayment, which amounted to only 6.2 million rubles.
However, the court considered the oil workers’ calculations unfounded. He also doubted the additional agreement itself.
Thus, Forpost representatives stated in arbitration that they were forced and misled by employees of the Rosneft asset as the strongest party. Speaking about attempts to continue work after the soil contamination incident, they pointed to the strict conditions imposed by the seller.
“Representatives of the defendant (supply and inventory management specialist at Samotlorneftegaz A.V. Milyavsky together with his boss, Vakhtina Inessa) reported that the management of Samotlorneftegaz decided to increase the price under the current contract with Forpost by concluding an additional agreement , without which the project will not resume and work will not continue. Repeatedly by letters <...> the plaintiff asked the defendant to allow the dismantling and removal of the goods, which the defendant did not do due to the demand to increase the cost of goods and materials, which was initially formed on the basis of the conclusion of an independent examination. Due to the refusal to allow the export of already excavated goods and materials and the pressure to increase the price, the plaintiff was forced to sign an agreement,” follows from the materials of the proceedings.
As a result, the court noted that, by creating obstacles for Forpost to obtain goods and materials and taking advantage of its position dependent on its behavior, Samotlorneftegaz imposed a deliberately unfavorable condition on its partner, including significantly increasing the cost of the goods without any objective circumstances, by an amount already committed part of the deal.
At the same time, the arbitration also rejected Forpost’s claims. “As the defendant rightly points out, the plaintiff also purchases passenger cars on lease; the fact of their direct participation in the work under the contract <...> is the plaintiff’s unfounded assertion. Payment of wages is the responsibility of the employer and is not dependent on the behavior of contractors. The collection of membership fees to a self-regulatory organization is also not a consequence of the defendant’s behavior and cannot be regarded as losses caused by the fault of the counterparty, since these are payments related to the plaintiff’s business activities,” the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District Arbitration concluded.
At the same time, two incidents that arose during the partnership were examined. This is how the power line was damaged during the work, which was reported by the oil workers to Forpost, and there was an emergency with the pipe, which was the reason for stopping the work.
As Samotlorneftegaz stated, due to unauthorized dismantling of the pipeline by Forpost, an oil-containing liquid spilled and soil was contaminated in the area of the Samotlor field (34th kilometer of the Nizhnevartovsk-Raduzhny highway).
“This pipeline was not subject to dismantling under the contract; no instructions were issued. <...> the commission <...> recorded contamination of the land plot,” said the oil workers, noting that traces of the incident were found within the boundaries of leased industrial lands and forest lands.
Let us note that, apparently, this is not the only conflict at Outpost regarding used pipes. Now a company from Moscow is suing another asset of Rosneft, JSC Orenburgneft, demanding, in particular, enforcement of the contract.
