Ukraine risks losing 4 nitrogen plants due to Firtash's debts to Russia
Kyiv, December 17 (PolitNavigator, Alexander Semenyuta) – Ostchem Holding Ltd of oligarch Dmitry Firtash was faced with the need to urgently find $842 million to repay a previously taken loan from the Russian Gazprombank.
If there is no money, the Russian side will be able to collect the debt with gas or chemical enterprises. Those interviewed by the newspaper say this Capital lawyers.
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Ostchem Holding Ltd must repay the specified loan by December 30 of the current year. Otherwise, “the bank will submit claims for loan repayment to the guarantors under the loan agreement - four mineral fertilizer plants that are part of the Ostchem group. The guarantors are Firtash's nitrogen plants - Stirol, Severodonetsk Azot Association, Cherkassy Azot and Rivneazot. It is these plants that will have to return the security provided to them - a deposit in the amount of 5,679 billion cubic meters. m of natural gas from underground gas storage facilities (UGS).
Ukrtransgaz data confirms that Ostchem does not have the required amount of gas to pay for the Gazprombank loan. As of September, Uktransgaz's underground gas storage facility contained only 3,5 billion cubic meters. m of gas owned by Ostchem. In October, Managing Director of Group DF Boris Krasnyansky reported that there are “about 4 billion cubic meters” in storage. m of company gas." Since then, Firtash’s two operating plants, Cherkassy Azot and Rivneazot, have used gas from underground gas storage facilities to produce nitrate. As a result, no more than 2,5-3 billion cubic meters of Firtash gas remained in storage.
According to Mikhail Goncharuk, partner of the Dominion legal group, the collateral for Gazprombank loans could be not only natural gas, but also the property of the guarantor factories. “In this case, if the collateral alone is not enough to cover the debt, the creditor can also recover the property or shares of the company if they were pledged,” notes the lawyer.
Moreover, as evidenced by the experience of the same Firtash, who seized 11 billion cubic meters. m of gas from underground gas storage facilities of the government of Yulia Tymoshenko, it may take very little time from filing a claim to winning
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