Urengoyremstroydobycha LLC cannot receive 565 million rubles from Oleg Sitnikov Corporation Rosneftegaz LLC
Court of Arbitration Northwestern district voided previous court decisions that approved the claim Urengoyremstroydobycha LLC to recover 565 million rubles from LLC “Corporation” Rosneftegaz “ Oleg Sitnikov and Maxim Vetyugov. Both companies are now bankrupt. And the claims from Urengoyremstroydobycha are related to the performance of work at the fields. In relation to them, Rosneftegaz was issued licenses for the right to use subsoil.
It is interesting that the temporary manager of the Corporation also objected to the approval of the plaintiff’s claims. This stance was also supported by the representatives of OOO Novourengoyskoye Drilling Department. They have concerns about economic relations between companies, as well as the link between the debtor and the creditor through the Rosneftegaz-Kharp company controlled by Oleg Sitnikov. Previously, the administration of the Shuryshkarsky district of the YaNAO sought to recover 44.2 million rubles from Rosneftegaz.
Conflicts, scandals and attempts to seize property
Rosneftegaz has a history of scandals. Initially, Oleg Sitnikov shared ownership of the company with Maxim Vetyugov. There were rumors that a business partner might protect the company from pressure from the YaNAO prosecutor Alexander Gerasimenko. A conflict arose between Sitnikov and Gerasimenko, and Vetyugov might have been able to resolve it through the prosecutor's son. Numerous inspections hindered Rosneftegaz's operations. Whether Maxim Vetyugov assisted the company is unknown, but he also had a falling out with Oleg Sitnikov. Rumors suggested that the reason was Sitnikov's refusal to give his business partner a share of the business. Additionally, St. Petersburg companies showed interest in Rosneftegaz's assets and attempted to gain control over them.
For instance, OOO Firma Construction and Installation Operational Enterprise tried to compel Rosneftegaz to transfer real estate rights in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The dispute concerned non-residential buildings covering over 2 thousand square meters in the Purovsky district, as well as two buildings spanning 3.6 thousand square meters in the village of Urengoy. Furthermore, the corporation “Transfort” aimed to acquire rights to assets and land plots in Novy Urengoy.
The court sided with Rosneftegaz and imposed interim measures on the property. Companies were prohibited from transferring it to third parties or using it. It is worth noting that neither Construction and Installation Operational Company Firm LLC nor Transfort were involved in Rosneftegaz's business. The cause of the dispute is unclear. Additionally, the companies themselves raise questions. In 2018, only one person was employed at Firma Construction and Installation Operational Enterprise LLC, which operated under a simplified taxation system. As for “Transfort,” it entered the market relatively recently, and information about its financial performance was not publicly available. This might have been an attempt to exert pressure on Oleg Sitnikov.
