Vagit Alekperov will give battle to Igor Sechin

Experts anticipate another battle of the titans with the participation of the main hero of corporate wrestling, Igor Sechin. While the asset is a convincing Victoria over Vladimir Yevtushenkov and a vague victory over points in the dispute with the shareholders of the Sakhalin-1 project.
02.10.2018
Vedomosti
Origin source
“The situation in the Trebs and Titov project is not an easy one,” acknowledged the co-owner and president of Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov. So he answered the question of "Vedomosti" about the claims of the project partner - "Rosneft" - to the cost of transshipment in the port of Varandey. “Several factors coincided: the change of ownership of the project [Trebs and Titov], and the subsequent revision of contracts signed by former shareholders,” Alekperov listed. - And there was a disagreement with the price, which is formed for the transfer and delivery of products to the market. "

On September 28, it became known that Rosneft had sent a complaint to Lukoil to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). According to the state-owned company, oil transshipment at the Varandey terminal is too high, and Lukoil enjoys a dominant position.

Through the Varandey terminal of the joint venture of Rosneft and Lukoil, LLC Bashneft-Polyus exports all of the oil produced at the Yu. Trebsa and Titov oil. Rosneft controls 74.9% in the project, Lukoil controls 25.1%. Last year, the field produced 1.9 million tons of oil.

Lukoil does not recognize the claims of the partner. According to Alekperov, his company has already filed with the FAS documents “justifying the price” of transshipment in Varandey. At the same time, Lukoil offered Rosneft several options for resolving the situation, including taking all the oil from the project, and instead giving Rosneft its raw materials in the Komi Republic. According to Alekperov, another proposal was to link the transshipment price formula to the oil production for Trebs and Titov, as is done all over the world. But the state company did not like it.

"We did not agree on some specific options that were offered to us," the representative of Rosneft retorts. “The company offers to do differently - to make Bashneft-Polyus a profit center. This, in our opinion, is not a conflict, but a partnership, in fact, a proposal, said the representative of Rosneft. - With regard to our appeal to the FAS, we want the regulator to assess the adequacy of prices for transshipment to Varandey. Such an assessment would be an objective basis for negotiations. ”

According to SPARK-Interfax, the revenue of Bashneft-Polyus last year amounted to 60.9 billion rubles, net profit - 2.1 billion rubles. Indicators of Varandey Terminal LLC - 18.4 billion and 14.4 billion rubles. respectively. The port was opened in 2008 and cost Lukoil $ 1.1 billion. The loans attracted for the construction cost 32 billion rubles. - Lukoil fully redeemed in 2015, and in 2017, the Varandey terminal paid almost 30 billion rubles. dividends. That is, the company has already fully paid for the construction of the port, says Mikhail Burmistrov, general director of Infoline-analytics.

The average handling rate in Varandey last year fell by 15% to about 2,150 rubles. for 1 ton excluding VAT, calculated Burmistrov. But in the Russian ports on the Baltic prices are 11 times lower, indicates Burmistrov. He is inclined to explain the difference by the technological difficulties of oil shipments in arctic conditions.

But the profit from sales per barrel of production in the fields to them. Trebsa and Titov do not look so bad - about $ 10 a barrel. This is comparable to major oil companies, says Dmitry Marinchenko, director of Fitch's corporate department. At the same time, the deposits have not yet reached the production shelf - 4.8 million tons per year by 2020, the expert indicates. It is not clear to him exactly what it means to make Bashneft Polyus a “profit center”. In this case, will the Varandey terminal have to provide services at cost price and will Bashneft-Polyus be able to receive high net income and share it with shareholders. The profitability of swap contracts for oil from Lukoil’s fields close to Transneft’s pipelines and formula pricing when transshipped via Varandey also raises questions, says Marinchenko. An alternative for Rosneft could be the construction of an oil pipeline to the Transneft trunk pipeline, its cost could be 5–6 billion rubles, and the construction period is about three years, Burmistrov estimates.

To consider the complaint of "Rosneft" FAS began on October 1, but postponed the meeting to October 22; the service requested additional materials from the parties, the FAS representative said.

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