Hearing on the ownership of technological oil in the Polotsk-Ventspils pipeline postponed

On May 16, Minsk / Anna Kot - BELTA /. The hearing on the ownership of technological oil located in the Polotsk - Ventspils main oil pipeline owned by LatRosTrans LLC on the territory of Latvia has been postponed. The date of the hearing will be announced later, BELTA was informed by Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC. It was planned to consider the case on its merits on May 16, but due to LatRosTrans LLC's complaint to the Latgale Regional Court (Latvia) against the decision of the Daugavpils Court of March 29, which rejected the company's application to cancel interim measures regarding the disputed technological oil, the court hearing had to be postponed until the case materials are returned to the Daugavpils Court. Interim measures imply the arrest of the disputed technological oil, as well as a ban on actions aimed at its draining and movement. The court hearing at the Latgale Regional Court took place on May 11. Based on the results of the case review, the court considers the complaint unfounded and therefore subject to rejection, Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC noted. "The date of the next hearing has not yet been set," the OJSC said, adding that it is most likely to take place at the Daugavpils Court. The case will be considered on its merits at the hearing. We remind you that two companies claim ownership of the technological oil located in the Polotsk - Ventspils main oil pipeline owned by LatRosTrans LLC on the territory of Latvia: LatRosTrans LLC and Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC. As reported earlier, on November 16, 2010, LatRosTrans LLC issued an official statement on its intention to begin displacing technological oil from its section of the Polotsk - Ventspils oil pipeline. At the same time, the company declared ownership of the technological oil and "legal rights" to its removal from the pipeline. Also on November 16, the LLC unilaterally terminated the lease agreement for premises with the representation of NRUPTN "Druzhba" (currently Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC) in Latvia, thereby restricting its access to the Ventspils reception and dispatch point. On November 25, LatRosTrans LLC began draining the oil.

Commenting on the actions of the Latvian-Russian company, Belneftekhim concern reported that it possesses documents confirming the ownership rights of the Belarusian enterprise to technological oil, signed, among others, by the Latvian side, and sees no legal grounds for disputing this right. Furthermore, the concern's specialists expressed the opinion that the displacement of oil from the pipeline by LatRosTrans LLC and its filling with a gas mixture would make it impossible to use the Polotsk - Ventspils section of the pipeline for oil pumping. After it became known about the commencement of pumping technological oil from the Polotsk - Ventspils pipeline, the Novopolotsk Republican Unitary Enterprise for Oil Transport "Druzhba" began preparing documents to protect its rights in court. On December 3 last year, the Daugavpils Court accepted the statement of claim filed by NRUPTN "Druzhba" against LatRosTrans LLC for the recognition of property rights and the prohibition of the use of movable property, and subsequently seized the technological oil. Thus, LatRosTrans LLC was prohibited from taking actions aimed at draining and moving technological oil from the pipeline within the territory of Latvia. On March 29, the Daugavpils Court considered LatRosTrans LLC's application to lift the interim measures concerning the disputed technological oil, which included its seizure and the prohibition of actions aimed at draining and moving it, and decided to maintain these measures. Polotsktransneft Druzhba Open Joint Stock Company is the legal successor of the Novopolotsk Republican Unitary Enterprise for Oil Transport (NRUPTN) "Druzhba", which was reorganized into Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC at the end of 2010. The main objective of the joint-stock company is the transportation of Russian oil from the West Siberian region, Tatarstan, and the Volga region to Belarus (Naftan OJSC). The pipelines operated by the organization also allow for the transit transportation of oil to the Baltic countries. LatRosTrans LLC is the largest Latvian-Russian joint venture in the Baltic States, in which Ventspils Nafta JSC holds 66% and Transnefteprodukt AK OJSC holds 34% of the charter capital. The enterprise ensures the transportation of oil and petroleum products through main pipelines within Latvia. The length of LatRosTrans's main pipelines exceeds 700 km. -0-

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