Hungarian oil group MOL at odds with Russian partner (2)

http://www.portfolio.hu/en/cikkek.td...

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 09:18:00 AM

Hungarian oil and gas company is taking legal action against one of its Russian business partners, as the joint venture of the two firms sold a massive USD 150 million worth of oil without the approval of the MOL management, MOL Chief Communications Officer Szabolcs I. Ferencz told business daily Napi Gazdaság.

MOL has sued Russian oil company Rusneft, with which it jointly holds 50%-50% stakes in the ZMB oil field in Russia, which provides 22% of MOL's total upstream capacity, wire service Bloomberg reported.

According to sources close to the company, MOL is taking legal action to have 5 billion Russian rubles (apprx. USD 150 million) worth of oil sales by ZMB to Rusneft annulled, as the sale had not been approved by the MOL management. The transaction took place back in 2007, when Russian multibillionaire Oleg Deripaska was seeking to acquire Rusneft.

According to the Bloomberg article, the disputes between MOL and Rusneft on the one hand, and between Rosneft and Rusneft on the other, are both worth 5 billion rubles, a “mere coincidence".

MOL and Rusneft acquired a 50% stake each in ZMB in 2003 and 2005 respectively from Yukos, after the latter had faced tax fraud charges, was forced to file bankruptcy and divided up into several smaller units. Interestingly, the lawsuit between Rosneft and Rusneft will be investigated by Pavel Markov, the same judge in Moscow who had presided over the Yukos bankruptcy suit.