Economic Front: Rosneft buys a refinery in Odessa

Rosneft is actively discussing the purchase of Odessa refinery from VTB, Kommersant writes. Prior to this, the plant belonged to the VETEK group (East European Fuel and Energy Company) Sergey Kurchenko, who was considered close to the family of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Kurchenko left Ukraine in February after a change of power. Unable to pay off the loan received from the VTB for the purchase of the NPT, Kurchenko handed the asset to the bank.

Vetek has serious problems now: in many cities, offices are closed, the group has a huge debt. Why did Rosneft need such a problematic object? Experts call the transaction primarily political. Until now, Russian oil industry workers, on the contrary, have sought to get rid of assets in Ukraine. So, Lukoil sold the Odessa Oil Refinery Vetek in March 2013, as the business has become unprofitable for the company. Rosneft was not only not interested in the Odessa refinery during the sale of Lukoil, but also intended to attract VPEC to partners in the development of its own project in Ukraine-the inherited company along with the TNK-BP of the Lisichansky refineries. But now the situation has changed.

It is possible that this will not be the last example of such a change in the owner: Russian banks have credited the Ukrainian business, and against the background of the pre -end state in the economy, the probability of problems with payments on loans is increasing.

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