Sergey Stepashin pleased everyone
On the agenda of yesterday's board of the Accounts Chamber were inspections of Slavneft and Gazprom. Judging by the reports that Kommersant wrote about yesterday, it was supposed to be a difficult day for both companies. But a real sensation occurred: almost all “charges” were dropped against Slavneft, and they decided to study the issue of the relationship between Gazprom and Itera further.

The main merit of the Audit Chamber auditors during the audit of Gazprom was that they for the first time raised the question of whether there were direct sales of gas from the Itera concern and how Itera paid for Gazprom’s services for pumping gas through gas pipelines owned by the concern. The auditors concluded that the level of payment from Itera for gas transportation services through main gas pipelines was very low (for example, Mezhregiongaz paid for gas transportation in 2000 by 99%, and Itera only by 80%). Having established that Itera received the main volumes of gas not from Gazprom, but from the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug), the auditors also revealed the price of the transaction between the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug administration and the holding, showing that it was underestimated.
Yesterday it suddenly became clear that the connections between Itera and Gazprom are subject to further study. Having taken one step forward, the auditors took two steps back. Rem Vyakhirev left the collegium hall very satisfied.
The rest of the auditors' conclusions, with which Gazprom agreed, did not seem to worry the gas tycoon very much. So what if the Accounts Chamber writes about a 22 billion drop in production? Rem Vyakhirev himself constantly talks about this. Gazprom pays taxes of 80-90%, but for a Russian company this is not bad at all. Moreover, the same Accounts Chamber found that Gazprom is owed almost 130 billion rubles. The reproach that Gazprom managers diverted funds for loans to banks and other commercial organizations also did not really frighten the holding’s management.
The key issue for Rem Vyakhirev was the issue of connections with Itera. Kommersant learned that the evening before the board meeting, Rem Vyakhirev came to see the Chairman of the Accounts Chamber, Sergei Stepashin. At the board meeting itself, Rem Vyakhirev sat quietly and was silent almost the entire time; his main argument was: “Gazprom has not allowed Russia to freeze over nine years of reforms.”
But the speech of Slavneft President Mikhail Gutseriev lasted about 40 minutes. And his fiery speech had an effect on the members of the board. Almost all the inconvenient moments for Slavneft have been removed, and the report should be modified by Monday. The board considered it inappropriate to introduce a state representative into the company. “Of the 11 members of the company’s board of directors, ten are representatives of government agencies in Russia and Belarus, so why introduce another additional ‘grain’ position?” “Andrei Shtorkh, vice-president of Slavneft, explained to Kommersant and added: “We are very glad that we have finally been inspected by such an important body.”
Slavneft’s position was that during the period inspected by the Accounts Chamber (1999 and the first half of 2000), the current president, Mikhail Gutseriev, worked for only five months, and all questions regarding the missing foreign currency earnings of $28 million in 1999 (Kommersant wrote in detail about This) should be asked to former President Vasily Duma. When asked what to do with the fact that, according to the report, in the first half of 2000 the cost of oil exported by Slavneft turned out to be $14.6 million higher than stated in the customs declaration, Andrei Shtorkh replied that “the return of foreign currency earnings is underway within 180 days, and the Accounts Chamber considered only the first half of the year."
The issue of a 40 percent reduction in the price of export oil was also dropped. It turns out, as Andrey Shtorkh explains, due to the fact that Slavneft is a Russian-Belarusian company, under an intergovernmental agreement it is obliged to supply oil to the Belarusian refinery at prices no higher than $120 per ton, which, naturally, is lower than the world price. The Accounts Chamber met Slavneft halfway by completely removing the issue of reconstructing the Yaroslavnefteorgsintez refinery. But Slavneft was called “a profitable and efficient company that has increased its oil reserves by 100% to more than 700 million tons.” But the main gift from the Accounts Chamber was something else: the auditors decided, after a two-year break, to add Slavneft to the list of objects not subject to privatization.

IRINA Kommersant-REZNIK

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 14 dated January 27, 2001, p. 4