UKRTATNAFTA SAYS COMPANY CANNOT EXIST AS JV AFTER COURT ATTACHES FROM ITS STATUTORY FUND 73.92% OF TATNEFTEPROM

Ukrtatnafta (the Kremenchuk petroleum refinery, Poltava region) says that since the March 19 resolution of the Federal Arbitration Court of the Povolzhye Okrug, ruling to withdraw from Ukrtatnafta's statutory fund 73.92% of shares in Tatnefteprom (Russia) to the benefit of Russia's Suvar-Kazan, Ukrtatnafta in fact does not exist as a joint venture, Valerii Korneliak, head of Ukrtatnafta's legal department has announced to journalists.

"After the contribution of the Tatar stockholders, the 73-percent stake in Tatnefteprom, was withdrawn to the benefit of Suvar-Kazan, a company related to Tatneft, Ukrtatnafta no longer exist as a JV, in fact," he said and added that Ukrtatnafta remains a joint venture only on the registration documents.

Korneliak also note that the Tatar shareholders failed to perform all the obligations undertaken in frames of the establishment of the joint venture.

Upon the foundation of Ukrtatnafta as a Ukraine-Tatarstan joint venture in 1994, the Ukrainian side contributed the integral property complex of the Kremenchuk refinery to the statutory capital of the JV.

The Tatar side, in its turn, obliged to supply 8 million tons of oil annually and also contributed 73.92% of shares in Tatnefteprom.

Before, ex-Fuel and Energy Minister Yurii Boiko claimed that after the attachment of the Ukrtatnafta CJSC assets in Tatarstan, the company ceased to be a joint venture of Ukraine and Tatarstan.

On March 19, the Federal Arbitration Court of the Povolzhye Okrug upheld the resolution of the Arbitration Court of Tatarstan of September 5, 2008 on recovery of more than USD 500 million from Ukrtatnafta to the benefit of Suvar-Kazan.

The shares in Tatnefteprom were attached and withdrawn to the benefit of Suvar-Kazan in pursuance of the award.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the Kyiv Business Court decided on September 4, 2008, to liquidate Ukrtatnafta based on a lawsuit that the Prosecutor-General's Office

The Kyiv Business Appeal Court has adjourned its consideration of the appeal against the Kyiv Business Court's ruling of September 4, 2008, that ordered liquidation of Ukrtatnafta until April 28.

The Ministry of Fuel and Energy and the Cabinet of Ministers oppose to the liquidation of the company.

The Tatar shareholders lost control over Ukrtatnafta in October 2007, when Pavlo Ovcharenko came to head the company.

After that Russia's Tatneft stopped supplying crude to the refinery.