Sources: Austria's 50-year relationship with Gazprom is ended by the gas seizure
Five sources said that the Austrian group's seizure and payment of Russian gas to cover an arbitration award was what triggered the end of more than 50 years gas flow from Russian state energy company Gazprom to OMV this month. OMV is one of the last remaining gas buyers in Europe, after Gazprom lost most of its European customers in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia was Europe’s largest natural gas supplier before the war. OMV announced on Nov. 13, that it had won a German arbitration…
Gazprom subsidiary claims $880 million against Linde
Court documents revealed on Wednesday that a subsidiary of Russia’s gas giant Gazprom filed a claim against Linde, claiming 879 million dollars. The Amur Gas Processing Plant, a subsidiary of Gazprom, filed the complaint on October 29 at the Arbitration Court in Amur Region in Russia's East. Linde has left Russia, and the Power of Siberia Pipeline plant that facilitates Russian gas to China exports, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022. In June 2021, the first technological line of the plant will be operational.
Linde UK assets frozen by Russian court for $1.2 billion
In a dispute over the ownership of a gas plant, a Russian court ordered assets of a British Linde subsidiary worth $1.15 billion to be frozen. RusChemAlliance is a joint-venture 50% owned by Russia’s Gazprom. RusChemAlliance filed other lawsuits against European banks for the construction of a German-owned gas processing plant with Russia's Linde that was halted by Western sanctions. RusChemAlliance asked the Court of Arbitration of St Petersburg & Leningrad Region for interim measures, including the freezing of assets owned by the subsidiary Linde Russia UK Limited.
Russian Court Told That Oil Boss Gave Minister $2 Mln in a Bag
A Russian court was told on Tuesday that a close ally of President Vladimir Putin personally handed the country's then economy minister $2 million in cash inside a lockable brown bag as part of an elaborate bribery sting. Former Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev is on trial on charges of extorting the $2 million bribe from Igor Sechin, the head of state-owned oil company Rosneft, in exchange for Ulyukayev approving a business deal. In the courtroom, a state prosecutor read out the transcript of a secret recording of a late-night meeting between Sechin and Ulyukayev on Nov.
Sistema to Pay Rosneft $2.3 Bln in Damages
A Russian court ruled on Wednesday that conglomerate Sistema should pay more than 136 billion roubles ($2.3 billion) to oil major Rosneft in a dispute over oil producer Bashneft. Sistema controlled Bashneft until 2014 when the government seized its stake, saying Bashneft's privatisation had been illegal. Rosneft bought a controlling stake in Bashneft from the government in 2016 and in May filed the lawsuit seeking compensation from Sistema, saying assets were removed from Bashneft. Sistema has rejected these claims as groundless.
Russian Court Slashes Libel Payout Sought by Oil Giant Rosneft
A Moscow court on Monday rejected a demand from oil giant Rosneft that Russia's RBC media group should pay it a fine in excess of 3.2 billion roubles ($52 million) for defamation, with the judge ordering a payout of 400,000 roubles instead. Rosneft sued RBC for an article saying that Igor Sechin, the company's CEO and a long-time Kremlin ally, was trying to prevent private Rosneft shareholders from obtaining a blocking stake in the company. Rosneft said the article was untrue. Moscow arbitration court judge Ubusha Boldunov…
Russian Judge to Hear Suspects in Total CEO Death Case
A Russian court will hold a preliminary hearing on the death of the ex-boss of French oil major Total on Thursday, a judge said, paving the way for a possible trial of airport employees almost two years after the magnate's jet crashed at a Moscow airport. Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive of France's largest listed company, was killed in October 2014 along with three air crew when his jet hit a snow plough just as it was taking off from Moscow's Vnukovo airport in the middle of the night. Five airport employees…
Russia Extends Yevtushenkov House Arrest
A Russian court extended the house arrest of Vladimir Yevtushenkov, chairman of the Sistema business conglomerate, on Friday for four months. Yevtushenkov, one of Russia's richest men, was placed under house arrest on suspicion of money laundering related to Sistema's acquisition of Bashneft, an oil producer. In October, Moscow's Arbitration Court ruled in favour of prosecutors who said Bashneft was unlawfully sold to local authorities in the early 2000s before being sold in 2009 to Sistema. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin
Rosneft CEO: No Plans to Buy Oil Assets in Russia
Igor Sechin, chief executive of Russia's top crude oil producer Rosneft, said on Thursday he does not see any oil assets inside the country that could be an attractive purchase for the company. Last month's seizure by a Russian court of shares in oil company Bashneft, owned by the conglomerate Sistema, has fuelled market speculation that Rosneft was interested in purchasing Bashneft. "Rosneft will certainly develop, within its capabilities and offers that will come up on the market," Sechin said in an interview with the state-run Rossiya 24 news channel.
NY Court Revives $1b Suit over Russian Oilfield
New York's top state court on Thursday reinstated Canadian oil company Norex Petroleum Ltd's $1 billion lawsuit claiming that two billionaires used armed soldiers and corrupted Russian court proceedings to gain control of a Siberian oilfield. In a unanimous decision that reversed two lower courts, the Court of Appeals in Albany rejected claims by the billionaires, Leonard Blavatnik and Victor Vekselberg, and companies they control that the lawsuit against them was time-barred. In 2011, Norex claimed that Blavatnik and Vekselberg…
