Pipe plant “Gazprom” became a participant in a series of major conflicts with the structures of NK “Rosneft”. In particular, the key mining asset – RN-Yuganskneftegaz – was accused of billions in losses in the form of lost profits. According to Gazprom Trubinvest, they were formed, apparently, due to the failure of oil companies to fulfill their obligations to order products worth 45 billion. Moreover, a few years ago, an enterprise from the Kostroma region already recorded such problems, pointing to the consequences in the form of a decrease in sales proceeds and a decrease in sales volumes in physical terms. The reports emphasized that out of the minimum guaranteed, taking into account the option, more than 70 thousand tons of tubular products, a little more than 10 were selected. Then, as representatives of the Gazprom plant claimed, the situation was mitigated by replacing the “rejected” volumes of Rosneft Oil Company with orders from other buyers. In the current dispute, however, Gazprom Trubinvest was unable to convince the first instance of the need to recover damages. Now observers do not rule out a new round of conflict, and pipe workers in the courts are recovering funds for other obligations from RN-Yuganskneftegaz and RN-Snabzhenie.
The Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug Arbitration Court refused JSC Gazprom Trubinvest (formerly Gazpromtrubinvest; 99.9% owned by PJSC Gazprom) to recover more than 4.6 billion rubles from LLC RN-Yuganskneftegaz. In the corresponding amount, Gazprom’s Volgorechensky Pipe Plant estimated the losses in the form of lost profits that arose during the execution of the contract for the supply of material and technical resources dated 2017.
As Pravda UrFO found out, the conflict is about an agreement for 47.2 billion, under which Gazprom Trubinvest was supposed to supply seamless steel casing pipes and casing and tubing pipes used for drilling oil or gas wells, welded with an outer diameter of not more than 406.4 mm, steel. The end date for the execution of the contract is December 31, 2017, while the purchase indicates the purchase of pipes for 2020-2022.
To clarify, earlier the publication reported on a series of large purchases of Rosneft in 2017 in the amount of hundreds of billions of rubles. However, later the oilmen began to refuse the products of their partners. This is indirectly confirmed by the petition of the Gazprom plant for the appointment of a financial and economic expertise for the above-described conflict.
Thus, Gazprom Trubinvest proposed to put before the experts questions about the possible amount of income not received by the company in the period from 2018 to 2022, in connection with the failure of RN-Yuganskneftegaz to fulfill its obligations to order pipe products, as well as about the amount of reasonable expenses in the same the period that the plant would have incurred under “usual conditions of civil circulation to receive income from the production and sale of pipe products.” The third issue was the amount of lost profits due to the defendant’s failure to fulfill obligations under the order.
We add that the company had problems with Rosneft back in 2018. “The decrease in revenue from sales of products by 6.1% compared to 2017 and by 2.9% compared to the plan was due to a decrease in sales volumes in physical terms due to Rosneft’s refusal to place an order by 94.2 thousand tons declared for 2018 under the current long-term agreement,” follows from the annual report of the Gazprom plant.
The document also indicated that out of the minimum guaranteed 75.4 thousand tons of pipe products, taking into account the option, only 10.2 thousand tons were selected during 2018, and the management had to deal with the replacement of “refusal” volumes of products with orders from other buyers in order to minimize consequences.
At the same time, Rosneft Oil Company was the central client of the Gazprom plant. As indicated in the report, in total in 2018 the company shipped 276 thousand tons of steel pipes to various buyers – 52% was shipped to Rosneft subsidiaries. The share of enterprises of PJSC LUKOIL accounted for 16% of the total, the share of JSC Surgutneftegaz – 10%.
Interlocutors of the publication on the market note that long-term contracts of a significant volume at that time were probably associated with the great ambitions of Rosneft in terms of field development. “Another possible moment is to hedge against rising prices for metallurgical products. Then metallurgists felt quite well in this regard. At the same time, there should have been some weighty reasons for refusing products, ”the source of the publication notes.
Another interlocutor, who is familiar with the work of pipe makers, speaks of two versions of the reasons for the rejection of products. “You have to understand that the pipe market is very narrow, and there are disadvantages of long-term agreements. For example, decisions on the conclusion were made by the same people who were interested in this contractor, and then the installations changed, and questions immediately began to arise about the products. The second reason may be related to quality. Welded pipes have risks along the seam, if you do not fully comply with the technology, problems may arise, ”the source of the publication argues.
We add that the lawsuit for 4.6 billion is not the only conflict between Gazprom Trubinvest and Rosneft structures. So, now the KhMAO arbitration is considering the claim of the Gazprom plant, all the same, RN-Yuganskneftegaz, for 157 million. As follows from the documents, the oilmen recently put forward counterclaims in the case. In addition, Gazprom Trubinvest is demanding a penalty of 61 million from RN-Snabzhenie under a contract for the supply of pipe products, while the Rosneft asset insists on counterclaims of 27 million.