AMCU did not support the Government project regarding the transfer of the assets of Ukrnaftoburinnia to the ma

The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) in response to the letter of the Ministry of Economy regarding the approval of the draft order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine regarding the transfer of seized assets of enterprises developing the Sakhalin field (PC Ukrnaftoburinnia PJSC, Sirius-1 LLC, Sakhalinske LLC, and East Europe Petroleum LLC) in the management of Ukrnafta PJSC, noted that the transfer of assets is recognized as a concentration that requires obtaining the permission of the AMCU. This is evidenced by the answer of AMCU to the letter of the Ministry of Economy, which is available in ExPro.

According to the AMCU, "the legislation on the protection of economic competition does not provide for any other exceptional conditions for granting a concentration permit or an exception regarding the need to obtain it, including under a special procedure."

Currently, the AMCU cannot assess whether the specified concentrations lead to monopolization or significant restriction of competition in the commodity markets of Ukraine, as it is necessary to analyze specific information.

Thus, the transfer of the assets of the arrested enterprises to the management of Ukrnafta may require the prior permission of the AMCU. According to the NaftoRynok publication, Ukrnafta did not apply to the AMCU for permission to concentrate on Ukrnaftoburinnia.

As reported by ExPro, ARMA wants to transfer the assets of UNB to the manager without holding a tender.

One may remind the Pechersk District Court, at the repeated request of the Prosecutor General's Office and the State Bureau of Investigation, again seized and transferred to ARMA the corporate rights of Ukrnaftoburinnya PC PJSC and other enterprises that were developing Sakhalin oil and gas field in Kharkiv region.

The arrest and transfer of the company are being carried out as part of the investigation of the criminal proceedings regarding the development of the Sakhalin gas field (Kharkiv region).

Ukrnaftoburinnya is one of the largest gas production companies in Ukraine. According to ExPro, the company will be among the top 3 private gas production companies in the country in 2022.

At the same time, Ukrnafta requested that the seized corporate rights ofUkrnaftoburinnya be transferred to its management.