It appears that something mysterious is cooking in government kitchens with the use of all possible financial and energy flows, the probable culinary delight a new Fuel and Energy Minister is preparing to dish up to the nation any day now. Word has it that one of the main candidates for the job, Yury Boiko, the current First Deputy Minister cum Naftohaz Ukrayiny chairman, whom the press has dubbed Comrade Reverse, has been yet again trying on the expensive suit for his long-awaited ministerial post. Will he ever wear it? It will be recalled that when the even more coveted post of the Vice Premier for the Fuel and Energy Complex was for the taking (few will recall that aside from the energy sector the Vice Premier for the Fuel and Energy Complex is also charge of the whole industry), rumor had it that a relevant order had been inked, and someone even prepared a banquet in Moscow perhaps more out of plain gratitude than joy at the imminent appointment. But for some reason things did not work out. Last Wednesday the candidate mentioned prepared to hold a news conference. He obviously did not care much what the conference would be about — either about the fact that the experiment to pump Ukrainian oil (analogous to the Caspian light crude) from Brody to Slovakia could put an end to the forward operation of the Odesa-Brody pipeline, or that Naftohaz does not intend to prevent or disrupt it, or that this experiment is not necessary at all — as long as journalists, and through them the public, were forced to believe that the man before them is a self-confident statesman and king for a day. Some journalists were simply refused accreditation so that they would not ask the wrong questions. Alas, the news conference was canceled because Boiko was urgently needed at the cabinet. It is not ruled out that there he was told to hold his horses. Since on the following day Premier Yanukovych was to fly down to Odesa, visit the Pivdenny Oil Terminal, and hold a news conference.
Meanwhile, Vice Premier Andriy Kliuyev has quietly left on an official trip abroad. Circles close to the government claim that he is visiting the Caspian states and then the EU capital. But the ministerial press service was literally gagged, and The Day failed to receive an official confirmation of where such a public persona as the Vice Premier for the Fuel and Energy Complex, who still chairs the parliamentary Fuel and Energy Committee, left last Thursday. Yet this is also news and not all that bad, since it proves that another ministerial chair is about to change hands. Whoever said that a Vice Premier cannot sit in two chairs? After all, Mykola Azarov is managing this task quite commendably, while Kliuyev is many years his junior. In any case, the final decision is not expected later than today. It seems that much will also depend on the results of Kliuyev’s tour abroad. If he brings home some signed contracts, the country will immediately learn the name of the new minister. If not, then perhaps the first of the candidates mentioned will win. However, if and when this happens the world will again utter the painful word reverse and receive it as yet further proof of the futility of Ukraine’s plans to join the Eurasian Oil Transport Corridor.
One former, and probably future, informed politician, whom The Day’s correspondent asked some tough questions, suggested a journalistic investigation be launched into this matter. Without claiming the laurels of an expert sleuth, this author feels he must say the following. The biggest disgrace, which should be not only spoken or written about, but is something that one must scream bloody murder about, is that today Ukraine has in fact lost its right to manage the Pivdenny Oil Terminal. This is now done by an offshore company of dubious origin, incorporated on June 13, 2003 in the British Virgin Islands (the editors have the founding documents and charter). Interestingly, the company’s authorized fund is only six dollars US (is this not a disgrace, considering how much pain this country has taken to build this oil-transfer complex?). Meanwhile, we have failed to determine who owns the six $1 shares in this company. Yet we have learned from reliable sources that Collide Ltd. charges $14 per each ton of oil transferred via the Pivdenny Terminal, thereby frightening away oil traders and owners who plan to take their oil via the Odesa-Brody pipeline to Europe. Of this Ukrtransnafta receives a mere $3.5 per ton, while the contract between Russia’s Transneft and Collide Ltd. mentions a figure of $6 per ton.
Most probably we will never learn who has given the Pivdenny Terminal to Collide Ltd. and its satellite Collide S.A. much like where the rate margin goes. Simultaneously, it is worth recalling the April 23 protocol of intent between Russia’s Transneft and Naftohaz Ukrayiny signed for Ukraine by the current candidate for the ministerial post in the Fuel and Energy Ministry Yury Boiko and his protege, Ukrtransnafta General Director Stanislav Vasylenko. It is not ruled out that the signatories simultaneously handpicked a new operator for the oil terminal. At roughly the same time the partnership between Russia’s Transneft and Ukrtransnafta was revised. While formerly the Ukrainian company dealt directly with every oil carrier and could sign contracts with each of them, now the Russian side has relieved it of this job. Buckling under Russian influence as it is, Ukrtransnafta is playing a match with a Russian super-monopoly second only to Gazprom, whose result is a foregone conclusion. Suffice it to recall that not so long ago Ukrtransnafta delayed payment to its employees, something that did not happen even during the economic crisis of the mid-1990s. Meanwhile, now Ukrtransnafta does not receive prepayment for pumping Russian oil across Ukrainian territory, a practice that existed until recently. It is paid after buyers collect the oil on Ukraine’s western border. There are other issues, which Premier Yanukovych obviously cleared up without traveling all the way to Odesa. Perhaps this is the reason why he cancelled or postponed his visit last Thursday. This could also signal a change in attitude toward Boiko, who would do best to refrain from too much self-advertising in the press. As they used to say, knowledge is strength. This thesis has not been refuted to date.
INCIDENTALLY
The Day received additional information on the companies from Serhiy Vynokurov, who, judging from the founding documents, is the director of Collide Ltd. domiciled in Kyiv with a telephone number. “In principle, I have nothing to do with Collide Ltd. I am the director of Collide S.A., Switzerland,” Vynokurov told The Day. “We only represent the interests of Collide Ltd. here in Ukraine. Meanwhile, it is owned by three companies. As far as I recall, they are Tok Investments, then something like Plus and Fortniks. No natural persons. I know this only because I have the contract of agency. We represent this company in Ukraine, because we have an office here and we have experience. The director of this company is based in Russia, while we cooperate by proxy with Ukrainian organizations on [oil] transport and transshipment.” When asked by The Day “Why does your signature in the contract bear the seal of Collide Ltd.? Was it also passed to you?” Vynokurov answered that until late last year he was simply one of the caretaker directors of the company, “since its structure was still being formed.” How did it happen that three companies created a fourth company with an authorized fund of only six dollars US? In his explanation Vynokurov referred to the fact that when incorporating a company that “is not involved in any kind of investment activity” or activity that does not require the use of floating funds, “the authorized capital can be minimal, and there is no point in creating a big authorized fund.” As a closing remark Vynokurov said, “By contrast, the Swiss company Collide S.A. has a minimum authorized fund of 100,000 franks.”
