The Belgians didn't include their gas generators in the count in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
The court declared the withdrawal of funds and harm to creditors. Pricey power plants were 'lost' at the RN-Purneftegaz site.
Overseas beneficiaries claim hundreds of millions of rubles of Russian energy assets. The company Power Solutions nv, registered in Belgian Weinegem, tried to present big financial claims to the enterprises of the Alliance Generation holding, operating on behalf of Rosneft structures at the Barsukovsky field in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The Belgians, among other things, reported leased gas generators, which, according to them, disappeared from the sites of the operators. Meanwhile, payments for the use of costly equipment were not made for several years. However, in Alliance Generation and its affiliated company Alliance-Energy, these claims are firmly denied. And during the legal proceedings in several instances, serious suspicions arose of intentions to carry out 'gray schemes' amidst the bankruptcy of a controlled company and plans to withdraw valuable property worth up to a billion rubles. Although Power Solutions has already lost in two instances, it seems that the Western partners have decided to pursue the matter, appealing the last ruling in the higher court.
The Moscow District Arbitration Court has started reviewing the appeal of the Belgian company Power Solutions nv against the decision and resolution of the previous instances regarding the dispute with Alliance Generation LLC and Alliance-Energy LLC at the Barsukovsky field in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug operated by RN-Purneftegaz.
The plaintiff hopes to recover over 383.1 million rubles of debt from the defendants under lease agreements, more than 62.6 million as a penalty, and also to get back 14 Cummins gas piston units previously purchased by Power Solutions for 609 million rubles from Trade Center LLC.
To clarify, LLC Alliance Generation, located in Moscow, is currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. The company specializes in electricity production, and the same Belgian Power Solutions nv and IS Industrials Solutions Ltd, registered in Cyprus (each with a 50% stake), are its founders.
During the trial, it was revealed that in June 2017, the Belgian company entered into a lease agreement with Alliance Generation, through which it provided 14 gas generators with a capacity of 1925 kVA each for the implementation of the Badgers project in the YaNAO. This fact was documented in the acceptance and transfer records, as well as the insurance contract with SOGAZ.
Later, the equipment was handed over under the power supply contract to Alliance-Energy LLC, under which Alliance Generation was obligated to supply electricity and capacity. It seems that the fate and circumstances of the operation of the leased Power Solutions units did not trouble anyone for several years.
However, in 2021, the Belgians said they had not been paid for a long time (since 2019) and then applied to the Moscow Arbitration Court because Alliance Generation had been declared bankrupt for more than six months by the time of the lawsuit.
It is worth mentioning that the property transfer document was not submitted directly to the court, even though Power Solutions claimed that the installations were at Alliance-Energy and used for RN-Purneftegaz's technical facilities. Additionally, the contract did not include the specific characteristics, actual number, and terms of use of the gas piston units to be transferred.
In August last year, an inspection was conducted at the Alliance-Energy gas piston station involving the plaintiff, RN-Purneftegaz, and the operator. Surprisingly, the equipment with serial numbers provided by the Belgians was not found on the site.
Meanwhile, the arbitration noted that the key condition for recovering property from someone else’s illegal possession is the ability to individually identify it, and only an individually defined thing can be the subject of vindication, which was not the case here.
On the other hand, Alliance-Energy presented arbitration documents proving that all the equipment at Barsuki belonged to them, not the Belgian company. As a result, the court rejected the claims to return the installations and collect rent.
Furthermore, the arbitration pointed out that the plaintiff is the founder of Alliance Generation LLC to the extent of 50%, and the management company of Alliance Generation LLC, Alliance Energy Group JSC, owns the majority of shares in Alliance-Energy LLC. It also noted that the ultimate beneficiary, with no formal powers, tries to conceal their controlling status and influence over the debtor.
Based on this, other important details were revealed during the proceedings. The documents state that the plaintiff's actions aimed to artificially increase the debtor's receivables, which will cause significant damage to bankruptcy creditors. The court concluded that the plaintiff's intent was to withdraw the debtor's cash amounting to 383,133,704 rubles and disputed property after the LLC Alliance Generation had gone bankrupt, despite the debt originating from 2019 according to the plaintiff.
The Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal confirmed the original decision, and now the parties are entering a new round of cassation. Meanwhile, the interlocutors of the agency in the professional community express their own opinions regarding the conflict.
“Under the current conditions, Western “partners” are leaving the market, but they are trying to take everything they can take with them. Of course, it is unlikely that such a scheme was developed by the Belgians themselves, rather, their managers in Russia suggested it. But the situation itself is interesting. Against the backdrop of the bankruptcy of his own company, withdraw assets, trying to convince everyone of the loss of expensive equipment for 600 million. And taking into account rental payments, it comes out to under a billion. A good gesheft on the remains of the office. By the way, I wonder if they knew about this in the structure of Rosneft, which works at Barsuki, ”conclude experts who worked in the northern fields.
