AN IRISH-INDIAN OIL PRODUCTION COMPANY IS GOING BANKRUPT IN TOMSK

A statement by the Tomsk company Stimul-T, a joint venture of the Irish Petroneft Resources and the Indian Oil India, appeared on the website of Fedresurs. The firm announced its insolvency and plans to file a lawsuit in arbitration. It is noted that the bankruptcy is taking place against the background of a lawsuit with Nord Imperial over an oil pumping contract concluded in 2009.

Nord Imperial is one of two oil and gas producing companies owned by Imperial Energy Holding. It is one of the structures of the Indian state corporation OVL (ONGC Videsh Ltd.). Three more companies belonging to the holding operate in the Tomsk region.

Stimul-T conducts exploration and production of hydrocarbons at the Tungol site. 7 deposits were discovered here. The company also owns an oil pipeline that leads from this site to the UPN (oil fitting plant) owned by Nord Imperial. It is located at the currently mothballed Kiev-Yeganskoye field. It is from the UPN that the raw materials come through the pipe to the Zavyalovo point to get into the Transneft system.

For many years, Nord Imperial, under an agreement with Stimul-T, has been engaged in complex transportation and pumping of oil through an oil pipeline. However, the cost of the service seemed excessively high to the counterparty. Payment for the service was made in foreign currency, and was indexed every quarter in accordance with the level of inflation. As a result, from March 2022, the company stopped transferring money for the service, and Nord Imperial refused to accept and transport hydrocarbons.

The company still continued to export some of the oil in winter by road. However, a months-long break in the delivery of oil led the company to financial problems and litigation with its partner. In March 2023, one of these proceedings ended in a fiasco. The arbitration decided that Stimul-T should pay the counterparty $3.8 million of the principal debt and $2.3 million of the penalty. The debt was accumulated by the firm during the pandemic.

Several more cases in the framework of the corporate conflict are to be resolved in court. For example, "Nord Imperial" requires the defendant to pay the debt ($ 1,229 million) for the period from November 2021 to March 2022, including $74 thousand in penalties. Against the background of these claims, the statement of the firm's intention to go into bankruptcy turns out to be very symbolic.

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