Translated material
Gift for Tymoshenko
RosUkrEnergo and Dmitry Firtash turned out to be unnecessary for either Ukraine or Russia
The statement by the First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, head of the board of directors of Gazprom Dmitry Medvedev about his readiness to reconsider the gas supply scheme to Ukraine, as expected, caused approval in Kiev. The most likely candidate for prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, yesterday welcomed Moscow's readiness to work with the new government of Ukraine directly, without intermediaries . “I want to say again that our team, after coming to power, will do everything to ensure that there are no intermediaries in the gas issue. It is very good that the Russian Federation has confirmed our concept of building relations,” she said, expressing confidence that the price of gas will be “absolutely balanced and moderate.” Her opponents from the camp of the current head of government, Viktor Yanukovych, also spoke in favor, but with reservations. “We are always in favor of having direct connections between our suppliers,” said First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mykola Azarov. “But we proceed, first of all, from the fact that the price for the supplied gas is acceptable for Ukraine: it would allow us to fit into the trajectory of introducing energy-saving technologies.” Gazprom yesterday refused to explain the position voiced by Mr. Medvedev, which, being very negative in relation to intermediary structures, was formulated rather vaguely and, as they say, “without names.”As you know, on Monday evening the head of the board of directors of Gazprom unexpectedly criticized the gas supply scheme to Ukraine. “Next year we will probably review the relationship scheme and move away from the existence of any intermediary structures that are not fully understood. In any case, structures, the presence of which is not entirely explainable to us today and which were proposed in a certain historical context by our partners. Maybe this will simplify the relationship, help them pay on time without creating such large debts,” he said in an interview with the German television company ARD (see yesterday’s issue of Vremya Novostei) .
As you know, Gazprom’s partner in the gas supply business to Ukraine is entrepreneur Dmitry Firtash. In 2002, he and his associates in the Ukrainian government were able to oust Itera from the business of transiting Turkmen gas to Ukraine. It is he who is believed to have been the organizer and formal beneficiary of the Hungarian company Eural Trans Gas (ETG), which received transit functions from the Ukrainian government (then headed by Viktor Yushchenko). Gazprom, which provided ETG transit services, expected to receive 50% in the new company, but the preliminary agreements were never implemented. In the fall of 2004, when the “Orange Revolution” took place in Kyiv, the scheme was modernized. Gazprombank and the Austrian company Raiffeisen Investment established the company RosUkrEnergo (RUE), which replaced ETG, which was mired in scandals. However, it soon became clear that the Austrian investment company was a nominal holder in the interests of unknown persons. As a result of the gas war between Moscow and Kyiv at the turn of 2005-2006, Gazprom received a separate five-year contract for gas transit through the territory of Ukraine. RUE has become the exclusive supplier of Central Asian gas to the Ukrainian market. Moreover, the company received an unprecedented right to supply part of the volumes to Europe (Hungary and Poland, as well as to the European structures of Gazprom Export).
Meanwhile, the scheme itself continued to look like it was very dubious from the point of view of legality; the US Department of Justice even became interested in it. As a result, Gazprom was forced to declare its intention to become the direct owner of its share (and not through the structures of Gazprombank). After this, it turned out that the beneficiaries of the Ukrainian share in RUE are Dmitry Firtash (45%) and his junior partner Ivan Fursin (5%).
However, Gazprom was completely satisfied with this structure. It allowed the Russian concern not to formally be a gas supplier to Ukraine and at the same time control the supply and export processes. Especially when Ms. Tymoshenko was prime minister in 2005.
Nevertheless, Gazprom and the Kremlin, which controls all important issues of the gas business directly, decided to radically reconsider the value of the partnership with Mr. Firtash. Several facts can explain what is happening. First of all, a year and a half ago, Mr. Firtash’s structures encroached on gas production in Russia. Moreover, immediately for large reserves - those belonging to the Astrakhan Oil and Gas Company (1.2 trillion cubic meters) and Pechoraneftegazprom (about 230 billion cubic meters). As a result, the deal to purchase an Astrakhan company by Mr. Firtash was canceled on direct orders from the Kremlin. They tried to do the same with 50% of the shares of Pechoraneftegazprom. However, there was a discrepancy: the seller - former top manager of Gazprom Pyotr Rodionov - had already received the money. But the block of shares never reached Mr. Firtash. After the story in the Astrakhan region, there was no point in going to court, and, according to Vremya Novostei, Mr. Firtash tried to transfer the shares to Gazprom in order to get his money back. It has not yet been possible to reach an agreement, and Rosnedra has already decided to revoke the license for one of Pechoraneftegazprom’s fields and similar steps are being prepared for the remaining licenses. It is more than difficult to conduct a joint business to supply gas to Ukraine in such an environment.
In addition, Mr. Firtash has problems in Ukraine, which, obviously, will sharply intensify if Yulia Tymoshenko comes to power. Gazprom apparently considered that the risk of its, to put it mildly, disloyal attitude towards RUE is too great, and there is no desire at all to even indirectly protect the interests of Mr. Firtash, despite the Kremlin’s well-known attitude towards Ms. Tymoshenko. In addition, the appearance of overdue debt to Gazprom, exceeding $1 billion, indicates that the Russian concern is not immune from non-payments in the future, and, as we know, it is better to present claims to a sovereign state, and not to its own intermediaries.
And finally, gas in Russia in 2011 will be sold at prices equal to export prices (at least this plan is recorded in government documents). This means that it is possible to agree with Ukraine on the transition to this principle of pricing without any intermediaries and division of profits.
Representatives of Dmitry Firtash declined to comment yesterday.
The international agency Fitch Ratings placed the ratings of Naftogaz of Ukraine on the Rating Watch list with the mark "negative". “Firstly, Naftogaz violated the deadline for publishing annual reports according to international standards for 2006. Secondly, Naftogaz must repay up to $700 million of the debt for supplied natural gas by November 1,” the press release notes. agency release. Fitch clarifies that we are talking about long-term issuer default ratings (IDR) in local and foreign currencies of B+, a senior unsecured rating of the company's Eurobonds in the amount of $500 million due in 2009 and an asset recovery rating of RR4. INTERFAX