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The Ministry of Defense project is dragging down Rosneft’s partner in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and Rospan International is illegally breaking the agreement

The Ministry of Defense project is dragging down Rosneft’s partner in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and Rospan International is illegally breaking the agreement

“TsHD Engineering” is obliged to return a large amount to FSUE “GUSS”

The Rosneft structure, Rospan International, which is developing fields in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, risks recording large financial losses against the backdrop of problems of its capital contractor, TsHD Engineering. The latter, in parallel with conflicts with gas workers, ended up on the FAS blacklist and the first bankruptcy procedure – observation. At the same time, TsHD Engineering proved in the courts that Rospan International illegally unilaterally refused to fulfill a number of contracts with it, and now insists on collecting hundreds of millions of rubles from the Rosneft asset. At the same time, the demands on TsHD Engineering itself are growing like an avalanche – representatives of Sovcombank, an asset of Rostec, as well as the Nizhny Novgorod Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, for which the company disrupted the completion of the dormitory, have already lined up for the company’s funds. In addition, they risk adding claims for hundreds of millions from the federal state enterprise Main Directorate of Special Construction (FSUE GUSS) related to the Ministry of Defense project and an independent guarantee for SZ M-Tastroy-19. This partner of the capital’s organization also became involved in large-scale proceedings, and, like TsHD Engineering, attracted the attention of prosecutors.

LLC “SZ “M-Tastroy-19” demands to recover from the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Main Directorate of Special Construction” (FSUE “GUSS”) the debt under the contract dated 2022 in the amount of more than 518 million rubles. The third party in the dispute is Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

It is noteworthy that earlier, under the same agreement, FSUE GUSS managed to recover a debt in the amount of 356.1 million and a penalty of 22 million from TsHD Engineering LLC (Moscow), which acted as a partner of Rospan International JSC (Novy Urengoy; part of part of the group of companies PJSC NK Rosneft) and performed work as part of the development of the East Urengoy site.

The Ministry of Defense project is dragging down Rosneft’s partner in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and Rospan International is illegally breaking the agreement

As follows from the documents, TsHD Engineering acted as a guarantor to the federal enterprise for the obligations of SZ M-Tastroy-19, which was the principal. It is not disclosed what project we are talking about; the materials only indicate that the subcontract agreement for construction, installation and commissioning work concerned construction 110, object code 370/RK-2r.

“In pursuance of the contract, an advance payment in the amount of 503.5 million rubles was transferred to the subcontractor. The plaintiff explained that the work performed was about 20% of the total volume. The principal did not begin work on the construction of utility networks for the structure. The principal violated the deadline for completing the work <...>, in connection with which a claim was sent <...> with a requirement to take effective measures to fulfill the contract and ensure the completion of the work as soon as possible, but the claim was not satisfied. A claim was sent to the principal <…> demanding the return of the amount of the unpaid advance <…> The principal did not fulfill the requirements of the claim, and therefore the beneficiary contacted the guarantor with a demand for payment of compensation under an independent guarantee.”– follows from the documents.

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What prompted TsHD Engineering to provide an independent guarantee for a formally unrelated organization is currently unknown. Meanwhile, both companies faced major financial conflicts. Thus, the prosecutor’s office of the Orenburg region went to court in the interests of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation represented by the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “GUSS”, demanding more than 505 million from the “M-Tastroy-19” SZ. In general, the latter company had a whole list of lawsuits with the “Main Directorate of the Special Construction”.

Received a claim from the supervisory authority and TsHD Engineering LLC. The prosecutor’s office of the Nizhny Novgorod region demanded that the organization’s operations be declared invalid, but the application has now been returned. The details of the conflict are still unknown.

Meanwhile, Pravda UrFO previously reported on the proceedings between TsHD Engineering and the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “Nizhny Novgorod Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia”concerning the completion of a dormitory for a thousand places worth 454.7 million. As the publication reported, more than 180 million were recovered from TsHD Engineering, in addition, it was included in the FAS blacklist.

At the same time, numerous proceedings have unfolded between the capital organization and JSC Rospan International (Novy Urengoy). So, According to the claims of TsHD Engineering, the unilateral refusal by the Rosneft asset to fulfill the list of contracts was declared illegal.

Some disputes have already reached cassation, in which the position of TsHD Engineering has held. Thus, Rospan International tried to insist on the failure to meet the deadlines for the work, noting that the unfinished volumes were forced to be transferred to other contractors for completion.

“Due to the plaintiff’s repeated violation of the deadlines <...> established by the work schedule, the defendant was forced to terminate the contracts unilaterally,” followed from the position of the Rosneft asset. However, a number of courts came to a different opinion.

“The court found and confirmed by the case materials that the obligations to complete the work on time could not be fulfilled by the plaintiff (“TsHD Engineering.” – Ed.) due to the untimely delivery of materials and equipment by the customer (“Rospan International”), which is confirmed by numerous correspondence between the parties . Thus, <...> the contractor encountered obstacles beyond his control to the performance of work <...>, of which he notified the customer. <...> The defendant’s argument that the plaintiff demobilized human and technical resources and left the construction site is untenable, since the plaintiff, starting from 02/06/2023, suspended work under the contracts, of which the customer was notified,” noted the Arbitration Court of the Tyumen Region.

Let us add that TsHD Engineering also demanded to recover more than 731 million rubles from Rospan International – the case was suspended until the acts entered into legal force, in particular on the above-described disputes. According to the documents, the contractor’s claims are based on damages received and lost profits.

Meanwhile, there is another level of conflict. Thus, the first bankruptcy procedure was introduced in relation to TsHD Engineering – observation. At the end of this September, the court intends to consider Rospan International’s demands to include the debt in the register of creditors’ claims. What amount we are talking about is not specified, while Rosneft’s asset previously announced the contractor’s debt for the materials and equipment provided and not involved in the construction in the amount of about 236 million rubles.

However, obtaining these funds, apparently, will not be easy. Thus, a number of major requirements have already been included in the TsHD Engineering register. For example, PJSC Sovcombank (105 million), LLC ResursIntel (92 million), PJSC Kaluga Turbine Plant (105 million), JSC NPP Istok im. Shokin” (134 million), LLC “MKK “TenderLiga” (213 million), FGKOUVO “Nizhny Novgorod Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation” (178.5 million). It is likely that claims related to the loss of the FSUE “GUSS” in court will be added to this, eventually exceeding a billion in total.

Let us clarify, according to Kontur.Focus, participants of TsHD Engineering with equal shares are Sergey Fomenko And Dmitry Donskoy. At the end of 2022, the company reported a balance sheet of 3.1 billion, revenue of 1 billion and net profit of 152 million.

Previously, Pravda UrFO reported about the problems of other Rosneft contractors, which industry experts associated, in particular, with the policies of the oil company itself.

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Melissa “Mel” Carter