https://www.site/2014-07-24/vladelca_bashnefti_kotoruyu_po_odnoy_iz_versiy_hochet_poluchit_rosneft_doprosili_po_ugolovnomu_delu

The owner of Bashneft, which, according to one version, Rosneft wants to get, was interrogated in a criminal case

As part of a criminal case on the sale in 2009 by the son of the ex-president of Bashkiria, Ural Rakhimov, of the enterprises of the Bashkir fuel and energy complex AFK Sistema, the owner of the company, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, visited the TFR. According to Kommersant, citing its sources, it was more of a conversation than an interrogation. But the businessman himself admits an attempt to "raider takeover" of Bashneft, where enterprises are consolidated. Sources of the publication also consider the change of shareholders a possible scenario, recalling the interest in the Rosneft company, although the version of the political conflict within Bashkiria is still relevant.

Information about the interrogation of the owner of AFK "Sistema" Vladimir Yevtushenkov appeared yesterday afternoon. The TFR declined to comment on the issue. Sources of the publication say that yesterday in the morning the businessman came to the committee building in Tekhnichesky Lane, where he was interrogated by investigator Alexei Veseliev, until recently the senior assistant of the statistics department of the TFR. Investigator Veseliev's questions related to the terms of the deal in 2009, when the son of the former president of Bashkiria, Murtaza Rakhimov, Ural first transferred all six enterprises of the Bashkir fuel and energy complex - Bashneft, Ufaneftekhim, Novoil, Ufaorgsintez, Ufa Oil Refinery, Bashkirnefteprodukt - to some kind of charitable companies, and then sold them to Sistema structures for $2.5 billion.

On April 28, the Main Investigation Department of the ICR opened a criminal case against Ural Rakhimov under article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Embezzlement or embezzlement), as well as article 174 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Legalization of funds or other property acquired by criminal means). In this case, Ural Rakhimov, who headed Bashneft in 2006-2009, is the main suspect.

He himself gained control of the Bashkir fuel and energy complex in the early 2000s. Sistema began to enter the Bashkir fuel and energy complex in 2005, having bought stakes in a number of companies for $600 million from Bashkir Capital LLC (considered controlled by Ural Rakhimov). In 2012, Vladimir Yevtushenkov recalled: “Once Ural Rakhimov came to me and offered to buy 25%, it was a good option to enter the market.”

But the consolidation dragged on. “I was counting on an easy success, that I would be able to increase the share further, but it turned out not to be the case at all. And we, with a share of 25%, spent four or five years, ”said Yevtushenkov. It was possible to increase the share only in 2009 - "the negotiations were difficult, there were many people who wanted to buy assets." According to the newspaper's sources, Rosneft was the main competitor, but in the end, Sistema managed to consolidate control over $2.5 billion. The interlocutors of the publication note that this deal was "supported by the authorities, including President Dmitry Medvedev."

Initially, claims were made against the Bashkir fuel and energy complex only in part of its privatization, which was launched by Ural Rakhimov in the late 1990s and completed by August 2003. Then the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation conducted an audit, calling the privatization "the most unprecedented case of theft of assets from state property." The investigation, however, ended in vain in May 2010.

In a new case on July 15, Levon Hayrapetyan, the head of the board of directors of the Sobesednik publishing house, who had arrived in Moscow from Nice, was already detained, who is considered an intermediary in the deal with the Bashkir fuel and energy complex. It is expected that he will soon be charged with embezzlement and money laundering, as the investigation believes that Mr. Hayrapetyan illegally received an agency fee of $50 million for transferring money from the deal with Bashneft. As part of the investigation, the investigation in the Basmanny Court first secured the arrest of Bashneft shares owned by Mr. Hayrapetyan in the amount of about 300 million rubles, then another 3.5%. Last week, a stake in Sistema (71.8%) was arrested. Yesterday, AFK clarified that another 12.64% stake in Bashneft owned by its Sistema-Invest structure, as well as 100% stake in Ufaorgsintez (controlled through the United Petrochemical Company) were under arrest.

According to Kommersant's sources, during the investigation the entire chain for the transfer of enterprises of the Bashkir fuel and energy complex of AFK Sistema will be studied. Therefore, among others, former managers of the Bashkir Fuel Company and Bashneftekhim will be called for interrogations, including the former vice president of Bashneft Viktor Gantsev, who was retired in the spring, as well as the former president of Bashneft Viktor Khoroshavtsev (now the company headed by Alexander Korsik).

Interlocutors of the publication, close to the government, AFK, Bashneft, and the oil market, agree that “the matter is very serious and the company as an asset is really under threat,” putting forward two versions of the reasons for what is happening. According to one version, the problems of the AFC may be related to the support of the ex-president of Bashkiria Murtaza Rakhimov. She actively criticizes the activities of the new head of the region, Rustem Khamitov. In mid-September, presidential elections will be held in the republic. Mr. Rakhimov supported the candidacy of ex-premier Rail Sarbaev, but he was recently removed from the elections. However, Albert Miftakhov, deputy head of the administration of the President of Bashkiria, denied the assumption that the case was initiated at the request of Rustem Khamitov. “As far as I know, this is an unfrozen old criminal case against Ural Rakhimov. We have absolutely nothing to do with this,” he said.

But there is another version. The government official believes that questions could have been caused by Vladimir Yevtushenkov's attempt to capitalize investments in the company, which is now worth $8.8 billion. In the fall, Bashneft is going to hold an SPO for 1-2 billion dollars (yesterday, the company's securities on the Moscow Exchange fell by 6.7%). According to newspaper sources, the main purpose of the placement is to attract new investors in order to protect it from a hostile takeover. Mr. Yevtushenkov himself indirectly confirmed this assumption in an interview with Kommersant, allowing the option of a "raider takeover."

In recent years, the market has been discussing the possibility of consolidating Bashneft by Rosneft, but this has always been denied by the companies. In addition to weakening Bashneft against the backdrop of a criminal case, the resumption in June of minority shareholders' claims against a joint venture with LUKOIL for the development of large deposits named after Trebs and Titov may be renewed. Experts are not ready to directly accuse Rosneft of trying to seize a competitor, but note that the creation of a joint venture with such a strong industry ally as LUKOIL caused “particular discontent” among the head of the state-owned company, Igor Sechin. The interlocutors of the newspaper consider the change of the owner of Bashneft to be a very real scenario. They call the main way of protection for Vladimir Yevtushenkov a possible personal meeting with President Vladimir Putin, emphasizing that "this conversation is expected, it can change something."

How Igor Sechin once again shocked the political elite, bringing down the shares of AFK Sistema by a quarter with just one lawsuit

"The rules of the game are crumbling before our eyes," - this is how experts assess the colossal claim of Rosneft against AFK Sistema in the amount of more than 106 billion rubles. Although Vladimir Yevtushenkov demonstrated his loyalty to the Kremlin in every possible way, this did not save him from the "undercover squabbling of bulldogs." However, BUSINESS Online experts also express the opposite point of view, recalling that 190 billion was siphoned out of Bashneft in the form of dividends alone, and who knows how it was torn apart.

Rosneft, headed by Igor Sechin, and Bashneft controlled by it, filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court against the former owner of a controlling stake in Bashneft, AFK Sistema Photo: kremlin.ru

“OBSERVERS WERE SURE THAT THE CLAIMS AGAINST THE PREVIOUS OWNERS OF BASHNEFT WOULD BE DEFINITELY FOLLOWED”

The Almighty once again surprised both the business community and the political elites. The Rosneft company headed by him and the Bashneft controlled by it filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court against the former owner of the controlling stake in Bashneft, AFK Sistema, as well as against JSC Sistema-Invest. However, it is not the very fact of going to court that is surprising, as many experts predicted, but the amount of claims. The plaintiffs intend to recover as much as 106.6 billion rubles from the defendants, which is slightly less than a third of the amount for which Rosneft acquired the entire Bashkir company at the end of last year. The essence of the claim, according to the press secretary of Rosneft Mikhail Leontiev, lies in the fact that as a result of some reorganizations, the former owners withdrew a number of assets from Bashneft for the above amount and led to the depreciation of the entire Bashkir company.

Economist Vladislav Zhukovsky believes that the claims against AFK Sistema can be justified, since theoretically the schemes for the withdrawal of the most expensive assets have been worked out and with their help it is really possible to turn the company into a dummy with illiquid assets without much hassle. But in this case, you need to understand and look. AFK Sistema itself has not yet commented on the situation. Meanwhile, the shares of this holding fell by more than 25% at the opening of trading on the Moscow Exchange the day before.

“Rumors that the management of Bashneft is inefficient, to put it mildly, have been circulating on the market for a long time. From the first day Rosneft appeared in this story, most observers were sure that lawsuits against the previous owners would follow. So nothing unexpected is happening now, ”says the political scientist Abbas Gallyamov. Indeed, after the acquisition of Bashneft by Rosneft, Leontiev warned that there were “a lot of questions” about the company’s operations and that it would be subject to an audit. However, objectively speaking, in recent years, Bashneft has become one of the tastiest assets of the Russian oil industry.

Today, Bashneft is among the top ten Russian oil companies in terms of production and the top five in terms of oil refining. It has shown impressive growth rates in recent years. Over the past 5 years alone, oil production has increased by more than 40% and has approached the mark of 20 million tons per year. Income is also growing. So, if in 2013 it amounted to 563 billion rubles, then by the end of 2015 it was already more than 800 billion rubles. So there are no outward signs that AFK Sistema Vladimir Evtushenkov ransacked the company, no, rather the opposite.

It has been part of AFK Bashneft to one degree or another for 10 years since 2005. Then Sistema acquired blocking stakes in 6 enterprises of the Bashkir fuel and energy complex for $600 million: Bashneft, Ufaneftekhim, Ufaorgsintez, the Ufa Oil Refinery, Novoil and Bashkirnefteprodukt. Four years later, in 2009, the son of the former president of Bashkiria Murtaza Rakhimov Ural Rakhimov transferred controlling stakes in these enterprises to four charitable foundations, which, according to one version, were controlled by him. In the same year, AFK bought controlling stakes in these enterprises for $2 billion and created a single company on the basis of Bashneft. A controlling stake in the oil company belonged to Sistema directly, a blocking stake through Sistema-invest.

“Rumors that the management of Bashneft is, to put it mildly, inefficient, have been circulating the market for a long time”
Photo: Grigory Sysoev, RIA Novosti

“EVTUSHENKOV DID NOT EXPRESS ANY POLITICAL AMBITIONS, WENT WITH PUTIN TO THE CRIMEA”

However, problems began in 2014. In April, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case against Rakhimov Jr. on charges that he used his father's official position and organized the theft of controlling stakes in a number of companies, including Bashneft, with a total value of more than 130 billion rubles. Then he allegedly sold the shares of AFK Sistema and other legal entities at a reduced cost. The investigation believed that Sistema acquired a stake in the Bashkir fuel and energy complex cheaper than the contract price by $500 million.

In September 2014, the Investigative Committee brought charges, including Yevtushenkov, under the article “Organization of the legalization of property acquired by criminal means,” after which he was sent under house arrest. Later, all charges against Yevtushenkov were dropped. But only after Bashneft was nationalized in October 2014. The Prosecutor General's Office filed a lawsuit for the alienation of the Bashkir company into state ownership, since the privatization actions "were committed by persons who did not have the right to alienate them on their own." The Moscow Arbitration Court seized the shares of Bashneft owned by AFK and satisfied the claim to write off 81.7% of ordinary and 20.8% of preferred shares of Bashneft from the account of Sistema's structures to state ownership. That is, the arbitration actually declared illegal the actions of the government of Bashkiria, which allowed the privatization of shares of enterprises of the Bashkir fuel and energy complex and all subsequent transactions with them. Thus, the Sistema stake became the property of the Federal Property Management Agency, and the government transferred the blocking stake to Bashkiria. Not a penny of money was returned to Yevtushenkov, but in December 2014 he was released from house arrest, and he personally announced the removal of charges against him Vladimir Putin.

By the way, the dividends received by Sistema during the ownership of Bashneft were estimated by the investigating authorities at 190 billion rubles and even tried to file a claim against Yevtushenkov's holding for this amount. However, in the end, they did not do this - including taking into account the "difficult economic situation in the country, as well as to prevent possible negative consequences for the market." “Yevtushenkov had no political ambitions when the company was taken away from him. And he said nothing, - recalls the director of the National Energy Security Fund Konstantin Simonov. “Moreover, he expressed his loyalty to the authorities in every possible way. I traveled with Putin to Crimea, saying that he was ready to invest in the peninsula, although this is a direct path to the sanctions lists. Went to meetings between the president and business after he got out of house arrest. I was not going to fight - and then bang: pay us another 106 billion. That is, a third of the company's value must be returned.

Recall that in October 2016, Sechin's company acquired a 50.1% stake in Bashneft for 329.7 billion rubles. After the offer to minority shareholders, the buyer began to control 57.7% of the authorized capital of Bashneft. Then Leontiev said that the leadership of Rosneft had doubts about the reliability of the data on the growth rates of Bashneft and pointed to the company's special relationship with Lukoil. According to him, Bashneft first sold its oil to Lukoil, and then bought raw materials from him and processed them at its factories. Plenipotentiary of the President in the Volga Federal District Mikhail Babich also said that there were “big questions” for the former management of Bashneft, and promised to give a “legal assessment” of his work. Disagreements between the companies also emerged after Rosneft bought 100% of the Targin oilfield services company from AFK Sistema at the end of December last year, which was formed as a result of a merger of assets purchased from Bashneft in 2013. The deal amounted to 4.1 billion rubles. Sechin later stated that “there are contractors who were withdrawn from Bashneft when these assets were valued at 8 billion rubles, for some reason they were withdrawn for 4 billion rubles.” Sechin also emphasized that there were representatives of Bashkiria on the board of directors, and the contractor subsequently received revenue of 53 billion rubles and a valid contract for 28 billion rubles. In turn, the representative of AFK Sistema replied to this that an independent appraiser was engaged in the assessment.

Bashneft is also associated with the loudest corruption scandal of recent times - the arrest of the ex-head of the Ministry of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukaev. He is accused of accepting a $2 million bribe to approve a deal to sell Bashneft to Rosneft, which he initially opposed. By the way, after the arrest of Ulyukaev, fears were expressed that the results of the privatization of Bashneft could be revised again.

Dividends received by Sistema during the ownership of Bashneft were estimated by the investigating authorities at 190 billion rubles and even tried to file a claim against Yevtushenkov's holding for this amount Photo: kremlin.ru

ROSNEFT SHOWED WHAT IS AN AGGRESSIVE AND SOMETIMES SHOCKS THE POLITICAL ELITE"

About what the current situation means for Bashneft, what are the prospects for a lawsuit and how independent Sechin is, BUSINESS Online asked our experts to tell us:

Konstantin Simonov- Director of the National Energy Security Fund:

- I think that in this case, Igor Sechin is absolutely independent and expresses the interests of Rosneft exclusively, which is the main problem. Pursuing the interests of the company he heads, Sechin does not pay any attention to what is happening around him. He does not understand that often creates serious problems for the functioning of the energy industry as a whole and for the political system too. Many examples can be cited. Take the tax story when Sechin says he needs a special tax regime. And what will happen to everyone else, what the country's tax system will look like, he doesn't care. Now he demonstrates the same approach: "I want to get 106 billion, but how it will be perceived does not interest me." Of course, this story was initiated by him. Rosneft has already shown that this company is aggressive and tries to achieve its goals by any means, sometimes even seriously shocking the political elite. An illustrative example is the arrest of Ulyukaev, when everyone opened their mouths, including the prime minister. I think that in many respects this was the task of showing that, in achieving their goals, they are ready to go even for what seemed impossible within the framework of the accepted rules of the game. Well, it was not customary in Russia to arrest acting federal ministers.

For AFK Sistema, this carries certain risks, since this story is also a violation of certain rules of the game. And if we take into account the history of how Bashneft was transferred to Rosneft, a lot of questions also arise. Rosneft, for example, stated that it was a non-state company owned by Rosneftegaz. Everyone understands that this is funny. However, no one asked any questions. And those who asked either ended up under investigation (Ulyukaev), or a well-known opposition leader showed a funny movie about him, how he carries dogs on a private plane and buys up apartments (Shuvalov). In the end, he also agreed that Rosneft is a non-state company, changed his point of view. Rosneft has repeatedly proved that it is capable of achieving its goals by any means, and shocked both the business and the political class. It has already reached the point that the head of Transneft, Tokarev, writes a letter to the head of the FAS that they are working in the interests of Rosneft, and asks how much this can be tolerated, where is the limit. This kind of thing is an overload of the political system, the rules of the game are crumbling before our eyes. Everyone is equal, but some are more equal. What will happen next? How will the industry function when we have a company that wakes up in the morning and says it wants something else because it is especially unique. And I do not rule out that Rosneft will be able to receive this amount of 106 billion. But where this amount came from is hard to say.

Shamil Valeev- director of the site "Mediakorset"

- I think that Sechin in this case is working in the interests of the Russian state. There is a total sense of justice from the further actions of Rosneft upon the return of the Bashkir fuel and energy assets to the state. In 2009, AFK Sistema received an entire industry around the Bashkir fuel and energy complex. And this is a large farm, which employs more than 70 thousand people. It is impossible to talk about Bashneft, meaning only the plants that are the core of the Bashkir fuel and energy complex. More than 190 billion rubles, which AFK Sistema received over the years, were turned in favor of the shareholder. I hope that the leadership of Rosneft will carry out this activity consistently and bring it to the end. I cannot assess the legal prospects, but strong corporate lawyers have always worked on the side of AFK Sistema. Yevtushenkov assembled a corporate governance team.

Mikhail Bresler— Rufa.ru editor

- I would not politicize this story. Often a company, having acquired an asset and conducted an audit, does not agree with the amount that the seller put up. In addition, in arbitration practice, the amount is usually overstated. However, the fact that the amount is comparable to a third of the value of the entire company is strange. You need to understand where this amount of damage came from. But I would recommend waiting for developments. Rosneft once filed a lawsuit against RBC for a large amount, but then the amount was reduced to the minimum. It cannot be that the buyer overpaid by such an amount, especially since its value was estimated by high-class specialists.

Vladislav Zhukovsky-economist:

- This is an exacerbation of the "undercarpet bickering of bulldogs." More or less profitable, profitable and liquid assets are not enough for everyone. Under the guise of talk about patriotism, getting up off your knees, global threats, there is an increasingly harsh and cynical redistribution of capital. There are 5-6 financial-industrial groups and oligarchic clans in the country that have formed around the supreme power of Russia and there is a struggle between them. What we saw in the Yevtushenkov case and on the issues of privatization of state assets is a consequence of Russia's return to the era of the dashing 90s of the last century, when we had the notorious seven-banking and inter-oligarchic wars. Today they are a little restrained by the first person of the state, who is the supreme arbiter, but his influence on inter-clan disassembly is noticeably reduced. The fact that there is an intensification of the struggle for the most valuable assets is not surprising. There is not much that can still be “sawed”. These are oil, gas, non-ferrous industrial and precious metals and stones, partly timber processing, and fertilizer production. In these industries, in the next three to five years, there will be a fierce struggle for cutting the “pie”. And privatization will be carried out in the interests of the right people with the right surnames and those closest to the supreme power and the Kremlin towers.

Russian vertically integrated oil company. Full name - Open Joint Stock Company Joint Stock Oil Company Bashneft. The main office is located in the city of Ufa, Republic of Bashkortostan.

Photo: http://legionbroker.ru/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/logo-bashneft.jpg

History of Bashneft

Bashneft was established in 1946 on the basis of Bashneftekhimkombinat. The association included the trusts Ishimbayneft, Tuymazyneft, Bashnefterazvedka, Bashneftestroy, and the Krasny Proletary, Bashnefteproekt and Bashtekhsnabneft plants.

In 1954, the association took first place in the USSR among oil-producing associations.

In 1975, the company was renamed the Bashneft Production Association, since 1995 - an open joint stock company, since 2009 - a management company for JSC Ufimsky Oil Refinery, JSC Novoil, JSC Ufaneftekhim, JSC "", since 2010 years - for JSC "Bashkirnefteprodukt" and since 2012 - for "Orenburgnefteprodukt".

In 2009, a subsidiary company Bashneft-Dobycha LLC was established, uniting NGDU Ishimbayneft, OGPD Arlanneft, OGPD Krasnokholmskneft, OGPD Tuimazaneft, OGPD Ufaneft and NGDU Chekmagushneft.

In December 2010, the company, having offered 18.476 billion rubles for licenses, was declared the winner in the actually failed tender for the right to develop large oil fields named after Roman Trebs and named after Anatoly Titov. The total recoverable reserves and resources of oil in these fields are 89.73 million tons in C1 category, 50.33 million tons in C2 category and 59.29 million tons in C3 category. In April 2011, Bashneft signed an agreement with "" on the creation of a joint venture to develop these fields, the joint venture itself was created at the end of 2011.

In April 2011, Bashneft acquired from the company "" 94.041% of the shares of OJSC "Orenburgnefteprodukt" (100% of ordinary and 76.16% of preferred securities). According to sources close to the management of the participants in the transaction, Bashneft paid a little less than $100 million for the asset. OAO Orenburgnefteprodukt is the largest supplier of petroleum products in the Orenburg region (according to the company's website), unites 93 filling stations and 16 tank farms.

In March 2014, Bashneft bought 100% of LLC Burneftegaz, which conducts oil exploration and production in the Tyumen region. The amount of the transaction exceeded $1 billion. The acquired company owns the right to develop two blocks - Vostochno-Vuemsky, Tortasinsky, on the territory of which two fields have been discovered, the total recoverable reserves of which exceed 53 million tons of oil. In addition, Burneftegaz holds exploration licenses for the Severo-Ityakhsky and Vostochno-Unlorsky blocks. The company's revenue for 2012 is 356 million rubles, net loss is 107.5 million rubles.

Owners and management of Bashneft

A controlling stake in the company (61.29% of votes) as of February 2011 belonged to AFK Sistema, another 25% - to Sistema-invest. Until April 2009, it was believed that control over the company belonged to the structures of Ural Rakhimov (son of Murtaza Rakhimov, former president of the Republic of Bashkortostan), who controlled the company through a number of organizations. The company's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange (ticker BANE).

Felix Vladimirovich, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ANK Bashneft, is the son of the owner of Sistema, Vladimir Yevtushenkov. The President of JSOC Bashneft is Alexander Leonidovich Korsik.

Activities of Bashneft

The company produces oil in the territory of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, the Orenburg region from the fields of the Ural-Volga oil and gas province (over 160 fields in total), most of which are in the phase of declining production. The quality of the company's oil reserves is low: the fields are characterized by a high degree of depletion (about 85%), water cut (up to 90%) and high sulfur content (2% and above). The company also produces oil at four licensed areas in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. As of the end of 2009, the company's proven 1P reserves amounted to 1.3 billion barrels (177.4 million tons) of oil, and taking into account probable and possible reserves - 2.1 billion barrels (286.5 million tons).

Bashneft owns three oil refineries with a capacity of 24.07 million tons per year (Ufaneftekhim, Ufimsky oil refinery and Novoil), as well as the Ufaorgsintez petrochemical plant. According to the data for the first quarter of 2010, Bashneft was the industry leader in terms of the depth of oil refining at its enterprises - 84.8%, with the average Russian indicator - 72.5%.

The company's own oil depots located on the territory of Bashkortostan, Udmurtia and the Orenburg region, 460 own filling stations (owned by subsidiaries Bashkirnefteprodukt OJSC, Bashneft-Udmurtia LLC and Orenburgnefteproduct OJSC) and more than 160 third-party filling stations operating on the terms franchising and job agreements.

On Tuesday, an unidentified person shot Vladimir Butorin, head of the department of economic security and information protection of the Bashneft oil company, in Ufa, a representative of the Investigative Department of the RF Investigative Committee for Bashkiria told RIA Novosti. ANK Bashneft is one of the largest oil companies in Russia.

JSC ANK Bashneft- a large Russian oil company, established in 1946 on the basis of Bashneftekhimkombinat. A controlling stake in the company (76.52%) belongs to AFK Sistema. Bashneft is the only one of all Russian oil companies that does not have oil refineries in its composition.

The main activity of JSC ANK Bashneft is concentrated on the territory of the Republic of Bashkortostan. Fields in this region have been developed since the 30s of the last century. The largest are Arlanskoye, Tuymazinskoye, Shkapovskoye, Serafimovskoye, Mancharovskoye and Sergeevskoye fields. The degree of development of the initial total oil resources is estimated 80%, water cut is high, well flow rate is low, gas reserves are negligible.

The depleted resource base does not allow the company to stabilize oil production. To increase reserves in 1997, Bashneft created the Bashsibneft enterprise, which is engaged in the development of oil and gas resources in Western Siberia. However, so far this project has not yielded the expected result. Production at the West Siberian fields acquired by the company is significantly behind the planned figures.

The main shareholders of ANK Bashneft are four investment funds (Yuryuzan-invest, Ural-invest, Inzer-invest and Agidel-invest), which collectively own 64.8% of the company's shares. ownership of these shares is disputed by the federal regulatory authorities and is the subject of legal proceedings.The blocking stake in Bashneft is owned by AFK Sistema.This stake was acquired by Sistema in 2005 along with shares in Bashkir oil refineries.The company expressed its intention to create purchased assets of a vertically integrated oil company, but this project has not yet been implemented.

Since 2006, Bashneft has significantly increased the share of profits allocated to the payment of dividends (up to approximately 40%).

In 2007, Bashneft produced 11.6 million tons of oil (2.4% of the national figure).

The structure of the company

Mining
NGDU "Krasnokholmskneft"
NGDU "Arlanneft"
NGDU "Chekmagushneft"
NGDU "Yuzharlanneft"
NGDU "Aksakovneft"
NGDU "Tuymazanneft"
NGDU "Oktyabrskneft"
NGDU "Ufaneft"
NGDU "Ishimbayneft"
NGDU "Bashsibneft"

Company history and projects

Company formation
The Bashneft Production Association was founded in 1932. In January 1995, the production association was transformed into an open joint-stock company "Bashneft". As a result of privatization, about 63% of the shares remained in the ownership of the Republic of Bashkortostan, 28.3% were distributed by closed subscription among the labor collective, and 5% went to the administration.

Development of West Siberian deposits
Due to the high degree of depletion of the Bashkir fields, the management of Bashneft decided to expand the resource base by acquiring promising areas in Western Siberia. At the beginning of 1997, the company established the "West-Siberian Representative Office", which is located in the Nizhnevartovsk region. The representative office of "Bashneft" collected information about the enterprises of the oil industry operating in Siberia, and was engaged in establishing contacts with the local administration. At the end of 1997, on the basis of the "West Siberian Representative Office", CJSC "Bashsibneft" was created, the founders of which were ANK "Bashneft", a subsidiary of TNK "SpetsUBR" and "Tyumen joint-stock social bank".
In May 1998, Bashneft won licenses for the right to develop 6 promising areas in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, the largest of which are Kirsko-Kottynsky and Khazarsky.

Belkamneft
In June 1997, an agreement was signed on the establishment of JSC "Belkamneft", the founders of which were ANK "Bashneft" (50% of the authorized capital), the State Committee of the Udmurt Republic for Property (43.5%) and JSC "Udmurt Republican Foreign Trade Company" Baikal "( 6.5%) Bashneft contributed property, equipment and funds to the authorized capital of Belkamneft, the State Committee of Udmurtia granted the new enterprise a package of licenses for the right to produce oil in the territory of the republic, and the Baikal company paid for the received share of shares only in cash .

CJSC "Bashneft-TNK"
February 9, 1998 Bashneft, Tyumen Oil Company Crown Investment Ltd. (Great Britain) signed an agreement on the establishment of CJSC Bashneft-TNK. The new enterprise was formed to coordinate joint supplies of oil to the Bashkir refineries and the development of oil and gas fields in the Tyumen region. Equity participation of the parties: Bashneft - 35%, TNK - 35%, Crown Investment Ltd. - thirty%.
In 2001, Bashneft sold its stake in Bashneft-TNK; in 2003, TNK also withdrew from the shareholders of this enterprise.

AFK Sistema acquires shares of the Bashkir fuel and energy complex
On August 12, 2005, AFK Sistema announced the acquisition of stakes in seven Bashkir companies. In particular, Sistema bought 19.9% ​​of the shares of OAO ANK Bashneft, OAO Ufimsky Refinery, OAO Novoil, OAO Ufaneftekhim and OAO Ufaorgsintez, as well as 18.57% of the shares of OAO " Bashnefteprodukt and a 10.08% stake in OAO Bashkirenergo for $502.9 million. The seller was Bashkir Capital LLC.
At the beginning of October 2005, AFK Sistema acquired additional stakes in Bashkortostan fuel and energy companies. As a result of the transactions, AFK Sistema consolidated 25.0% of the voting shares of OAO Bashneft, 25.52% of the shares of OAO Ufimsky Refinery, 28.17% of the shares of OAO Novoil, 22.43% of the shares of OAO Ufaneftekhim ", 24.87% of the shares of OAO Ufaorgsintez and 18.57% of the shares of OAO Bashnefteprodukt.
The head of AFK Sistema, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, said that the company intends to create a vertically integrated company based on the assets of the Bashkir fuel and energy complex.

Oil production in the Orenburg region
In March 2008, Bashneft won an auction for the right to explore and produce hydrocarbons at the Kitayamsko-Blagodarovsky block in the Orenburg Region. The starting price of the site was set at 0.2 billion rubles, Bashneft offered 1.54 billion rubles for it. During the auction, 67 steps were taken. In addition to Bashneft, OOO Tatneft-Severny and OAO Bashneftegeofizika participated in the auction.
The volume of recoverable explored oil reserves within the Kitayamsko-Blagodarovsky area is 1.6 million tons, preliminary estimated - 3.6 million tons. Recoverable explored gas reserves amount to 2.8 billion cubic meters. m, preliminary estimated - 2.7 billion cubic meters. m.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

In the Bashkir arbitration began, perhaps, the loudest trial in its history. Rosneft is trying to recover 170 billion rubles from AFK Sistema for the unprofitable reorganization of Bashneft. "Mediakorset" understood what happened to the Bashkir fuel and energy complex during the period when it was part of the "System".

How much did Sistema buy Bashneft for?

AFK Sistema (AFK) entered the authorized capital of Bashneft in 2005. Then it acquired blocking stakes in six enterprises of the Bashkir fuel and energy complex for $600 million. Among them were Bashneft, Ufaneftekhim, Ufaorgsintez, Ufa Oil Refinery, Novoil and Bashkirnefteprodukt. In 2009, the son of the first president of the republic, Ural Rakhimov, transferred controlling stakes in these enterprises to four charitable foundations. And in the same year, Sistema bought them out. Later, during the consideration of the lawsuit of Sistema against the structure of Ural Rakhimov in the Moscow arbitration, it turned out that the deal amounted to $ 2.11 billion, or more than 70.73 billion rubles.

After Bashneft passed to Sistema, within a few years all the oilfield services assets of the Bashkir company were withdrawn from its structure. On their basis, the Targin company was created. In 2013, Sistema bought this company for 4 billion rubles, or $125.6 million.

Thus, Bashneft cost Sistema about $2.5 billion.

How was the withdrawal of assets

The gradual withdrawal of Bashneft's assets began in 2012. First, as a result of a series of corporate actions, 50.2% of the shares of Bashkirenergo were exchanged for 49% of the shares of Sistema's subsidiary, CJSC Sistema-Invest. Everything would be fine, only two years later Bashneft lost the shares of Sistema-invest. Accordingly, Bashneft also lost the shares of Bashkirenergo. In the same year, Sistema again, as a result of corporate intricacies, got rid of loans for 36.6 billion rubles, which Bashneft had previously issued to it.

At this stage, Bashneft lost a total of more than 94 billion rubles.

At the same time, the structure of Bashkirenergo was also changed. The companies BESK and Bashenergoaktiv were spun off from it. Today, by the way, BESK, like Bashkirenergo, remains owned by AFK and is, in fact, the only supplier of electricity for Bashneft. To become the owner of the entire grid power industry in the region was the task of Sistema, which presented it as an effective reorganization.

Another asset withdrawn from the perimeter of Bashneft is the Ufaorgsintez plant. The scheme is the same as in the case of BESK. And later, in 2016, Sistema managed to sell the enterprise back to the state for 3.6 billion rubles. Thus, AFK got a double benefit here as well.

In total, from 2014 to 2016, Bashneft lost assets by 108.8 billion rubles, or $3 billion at the current exchange rates in those years. For Sistema, everything turned out as well as possible: corporate intricacies allowed it to exclude Bashneft from its shareholders, put it on the “energy needle” in the form of BPSK, get rid of loans and not spend a single ruble on it.

How much more did Sistema earn from Bashneft?

Do not forget that in parallel with this, Sistema also received dividends from owning a Bashkir company. Their total amounted to 135 billion rubles.

In 2015, AFK, by court order, recovered $1.13 billion from Ural-Invest, a financial donor to the Ural Charitable Foundation. This fact was a considerable blow to the social development of the republic, since the Ural Foundation implemented a huge number of social projects in the region. Sick children, children's sports teams were left without financial assistance at that moment. Many villages and villages were left without schools, hospitals, roads. In Ufa, the construction of the Cathedral Mosque, which claimed to be the face of the city, was suspended.

In December last year, Rosneft sold the Targin company for 4.1 billion rubles. The latter, of course, can be called the restoration of historical justice, since it was sold at the same price as it was purchased. But with regard to other assets, the restoration of this justice is yet to be. And above all, it concerns Bashkirenergo.

Thus, in addition to income from operations with assets, Sistema received another 209.83 billion rubles from Bashneft.

What has Bashneft become in Sistema?

It is not difficult to guess that the withdrawal of assets from the company could not but affect the financial performance of the company. What happened at Bashneft during its reorganization by 2014 led to a decrease in its value by almost half - to 4.6 billion rubles. Meanwhile, costs have been rising.

For production almost doubled - from 19 to 36 billion,

For commercial, general and administrative expenses - by more than 40%, from 11 to 16 billion rubles,

Meanwhile, as the media reported, Bashneft in those years became one of the outsiders in terms of capital investments in exploration and production. And the net profit for the time while "Bashneft" was managed by "systemists" decreased by 36%.

Minority shareholders fled

Although Sistema tried to convince the public that the reorganization was successful, the essence of the corporate actions of those years was obvious to many even then. As the saying goes, you can't hide an awl in a bag. Already at the beginning of the trial, it became known that the decision of the shareholders of Bashneft to reorganize the company was not unanimous. More than 80 minority shareholders voted against it, but their opinion, unfortunately, did not decide anything. Sistema began to actively carry out its intricacies, and the "attractive" conditions of the reorganization turned out to be so unprofitable for minority shareholders that they themselves offered Bashneft to buy back their shares. This cost the company 12 billion rubles, and, as usual, Sistema obliged them to pay them additionally.

How Bashneft flowed out of Sistema

The skillful actions of Sistema helped her until 2014 to skillfully extort huge amounts of money from Bashneft. However, this eventually came to an end. In early 2014, the owner of Sistema, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, became the protagonist of criminal chronicles. Ex-senator Igor Izmestyev testified against Ural Rakhimov that he had stolen the property of Bashkiria for a total of 7 billion rubles. Yevtushenkov was charged with stealing BashTEK shares.

At the end of October of the same year, 71.6% of the shares of Bashneft were returned to state ownership by a court decision. It took more than two months to implement this decision. And during this short period, the then top managers of Bashneft worked especially actively. So, in two months, transactions were approved for the sale of petroleum products for a total amount of 443 billion rubles! In addition, Sistema redistributed profits for 2013, paying almost 37 billion rubles in dividends.

It seems that the lawsuit that has begun on the lawsuit of Rosneft against Sistema is in danger of becoming not the only one. The new owner will have to deal with the consequences of "effective management" for a long time.

Expert opinions:

Rustem Akhunov, Vice-Rector for Strategic Development of BashSU:

In my opinion, in the context of the distribution of profits, the focus today is on reinvestment and modernization of production. There is hope that in the person of Rosneft, an owner with ambitions for global leadership in the industry and, accordingly, interested in the future development of the newly acquired asset - Bashneft. Such leadership is impossible without a serious renewal of fixed assets and the use of advanced technologies. Such a game "for a long time" should have a favorable impact on the socio-economic development of the region. In my opinion, at the time when Bashneft was owned by Sistema, a corporate strategy was being implemented in the interests of the entire diversified group, which sometimes led to the siphoning of financial resources from the Bashkir oil industry in favor of other assets of Sistema.

Eduard Gareev, political scientist,head Department of Political Science, Sociology and Public Relations, UGNTU:

- The system, having received Bashneft, went the simplest way. She had no experience of working with fuel and energy enterprises, and therefore she discarded all social obligations and simply relied on maximizing profit. Lack of understanding of what fuel and energy complex is, led to accidents, accidents. The growth of salaries for employees was actually frozen, because of which social tension was growing. Now, in my opinion, justice has triumphed only partially: less than half of what Yevtushenkov once bought from Rakhimov has returned to state ownership.

Shamil Valeev, former employee of Bashneft:

- The key word in this whole process ( reorganization of Bashneft - ed.)- exclusion. Sistema pulled out the sweetest assets of the Bashkir fuel and energy complex in order to increase the share capital of AFK itself. If in a simple way, they cut on the living. Since at that time there was no force in Bashkiria that could resist this, it easily passed under the guise of corporate procedures.

As for the restoration of justice, I note that Bashneft, like other enterprises of the Soviet era, was built by the whole country, and this is essentially a product of socialist integration. The fact that later it remained in the ownership of the government of the Republic of Belarus, and then in the personal property of the rulers, was not fair in itself. Ural Rakhimov carried out privatization with a "stroke of a pen", and this created the prerequisites for the withdrawal of the country's national treasure into a private pocket. In addition, for the amount for which Sistema bought Bashneft, no one in good mind and sober memory would have sold the oil company, especially during the crisis of 2008-2009.

Plots: