Transneft is out of Rovno

10.04.2014

Yet another Russian company may lose its assets after the change of power in Ukraine. The local Ministry of Interior Affairs threatens VTB with taking away the Odessa oil refinery, and now Transneft is risking losing a part of its pipeline in the country. The Rovno city court wishes to review its own judgment, by which the Russian monopoly was ruled the owner of the pipeline. Russian lawyers believe that the case is hopeless, and that nationalization with payment of compensation to Transneft is the only legal way for Ukraine to take the assets away.

According to Advocate Evgeny Zhilin, Managing Partner of the Law Firm "YUST", taking into consideration the quantity and the outcomes of earlier disputes, only newly discovered circumstances may be the grounds to review the earlier judgment – “which the Ukrainian side is unlikely to have”. The Advocate believes that the only legal way for Ukraine to take the assets is to adopt a law on their nationalization, and then the country will be obliged to compensate Transneft.