ROSNEFT International Ltd, an Irish subsidiary of the Russian- government-controlled oil giant OJSC Rosneft, has reported a loss of $23.4 million (€17.7 million) for 2010, largely arising from a provision for non-payment of money it is owed from another group company.
OJSC Rosneft owns assets that formerly belonged to Yukos, the Russian oil business whose former owner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is in jail in Russia. His imprisonment and the seizure of Yukos’s assets some years ago were seen by many at the time as being due to him speaking out against the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin.
Rosneft International has two Russian directors, Anton Kozhinov and Nikita Tolstikov, and one Irish director, consultant John Griffin, from Limerick. Mr Griffin did not want to discuss Rosneft International’s accounts when contacted.
Rosneft International facilitates the investment activities of its parent by receiving loans and providing finance to its subsidiaries, according to the accounts.
The company made a provision for $22.26 million against a loan and interest due from a subsidiary, Rosneft Shipping Ltd, in 2010, which has ceased to trade.
Profit on ordinary activities fell to $2.4 million, from $22.46 million in 2009, due to the transfer of income generating loans to its parent, according to the accounts.
The company’s registered office is the office of RSM Farrell Grant Sparks, in Dublin, and its bankers are Deutsche Bank International, in St Helier, Jersey.
Money due from group undertakings and joint ventures was $219 million, while the amount owed to the parent company at year’s end was $247 million.
As well as investing in group oil and gas-development projects, oil trading and the acquisition of assets, the company also funds the provision of air transport services for Rosneft executives, according to the accounts.
The company had no employees during 2010, down from one employee the previous year, at a cost of $214,000. Directors’ remuneration was $4,000.
The company has subsidiaries in Cyprus, the British Virgin Islands, Jersey and Luxembourg. It has one Irish subsidiary, Trumpet Ltd, which is involved in trading oil and oil products. A subsidiary in Cyprus is involved in building oil tankers.
Cyprus-registered Shelf Support Shiphold Ltd and British Virgin Islands -registered Skyline Asset Management Ltd are the owners and operators of Rosneft aircraft.
The company is involved in joint venture oil projects in China with Chinese partners, including an oil-refinery project.
Rosneft International paid Irish corporation tax of $607,000 in 2010, down from $5.5 million the previous year. No Russian tax was paid (2009: $9.9 million).
Trumpet Ltd had a pre-tax profit of $2.7 million in 2009, according to its latest filed accounts. The accounts were filed last September and state that in 2010 its ultimate parent decided to curtail its trading activity.
Revenue in 2009 was $301 million, up from $193 million the previous year. Its activities are directed by its ultimate parent, according to the accounts, and in 2009 it had no employee. Mr Griffin was the company’s sole director during most of 2009, and in the following year two Russian directors, A Karpushin and A Kuryatnikov, were added to the board.
A note to the accounts states that Trumpet had a firm purchase commitment with OJSC Rosneft to purchase crude oil worth $1.99 billion in the period February 2009 to January 2013.
The assets of Rosneft International were frozen for about a month by the Irish courts in 2010, in a case taken by offshore company Yukos Capital, which had supplied loans to the Yukos business in 2004. After Rosneft took over the Yukos companies involved, it refused to repay the loans to Yukos Capital. The freezing order from the High Court in Dublin was lifted after the Moscow parent said it would provide certain securities.
