Rosneft has challenged U.S. and British court injunctions brought by managers of defunct rival Yukos and says oil supplies will not be harmed by the cases.
Rosneft confirmed on Thursday that managers of Yukos, the former oil giant dissolved by the Kremlin, had won injunctions in New York and London to freeze assets in relation to a $400 million award by a Dutch court to Yukos last year.
The U.S. case, however, had already been partly overturned and could be thrown out completely within 60 days, Rosneft said in a statement. It will also challenge the London ruling.
“Rosneft is fully meeting all of its commitments to supply oil and oil products, including its export contracts,” the company said in the statement. “There are no restrictions in place on payments for oil in U.S. dollars.”
The government dissolved Yukos, once Russia’s largest oil producer, in 2007 after hounding the company for massive back-tax claims.
Rosneft, whose ascent was built largely on assets once belonging to Yukos, has been the key contributor to an increase in oil production that has made Russia the world’s largest oil producer.
Trade sources, who revealed details of the injunctions this week, said the court action by Yukos managers had affected some payments to Rosneft by foreign customers and could jeopardize delivery of the firm’s oil abroad.
The injunctions are an attempt by Yukos to recover payment of the approximately $400 million awarded by the Dutch court to a unit of the defunct company, Yukos Capital.
Analysts said Rosneft would suffer no material impact from either case and that the company had already allocated related funds as a short-term debt obligation in its accounts for 2009.
Even in the worst-case scenario for Rosneft, the injunctions could affect no more than $400 million — small change for a company that brought in revenues of $46.8 billion last year.
“This legal issue does not put Rosneft’s existing exports or payment procedure in danger,” said Renaissance Capital analyst Alexander Burgansky.
The latest legal twist began on Feb. 8, when Yukos Capital won a temporary injunction in the Federal Court of the State of New York, which prevented payments for its oil.
Thursday’s statement was the first by Rosneft, in which it told investors about the injunctions. It also said this ruling was overturned on Feb. 17 after it argued its case. In a further hearing on March 17, the court said it had no jurisdiction over the case and could only rule on claims related to Rosneft assets in New York state. The plaintiff has 60 days to find such assets or the case will be dropped, Rosneft said.
In London, Yukos Capital won an injunction on March 11 to freeze some Rosneft assets in England and Wales. “Rosneft considers this order to be groundless and is taking all the necessary measures to protect its interests in court,” it said.
“The amount of property frozen in the English court order is not significant for Rosneft’s commercial activities and cannot influence the company’s ability to fulfill its commitments.”
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