Final ruling on disputed oil in Polotsk-Ventspils pipeline in October 2013

MINSK, 13 August (BelTA) – The final ruling on the disputed oil stored in a section of the Polotsk-Ventspils oil pipeline will be pronounced by the Supreme Court of Latvia in October 2013, Vasily Drobotov, Director of the Belarusian company OAO Polotsktransneft Druzhba, told BelTA. The Supreme Court of Latvia’s ruling to lift arrest from the disputed process oil in the Latvian part of the oil pipeline Polotsk-Ventspils on 10 August does not mean the litigation in Latvian courts is over. The final ruling will be pronounced in October 2013, said Vasily Drobotov as he commented on the previous week’s decision of the Supreme Court of Latvia to lift the arrest from the disputed process oil in the Latvian part of the oil pipeline Polotsk-Ventspils owned by the Latvian-Russian company LatRosTrans. Vasily Drobotov remarked that the company and its owner were ready for this development. The owner will now have to decide upon further actions of the company. OAO Polotsktransneft Druzhba is part of the Belarusian state petrochemical concern Belneftekhim. The state owns 100% of the company’s shares. BelTA reported earlier that OAO Polotsktransneft Druzhba and OOO LatRosTrans are at odds over the ownership of the process oil in two oil pipelines in Latvia, namely Polotsk-Ventspils and Polotsk-Birzai-Mazeikiai. On 9 December 2011 the Latgalian district court failed to recognize the Belarusian company’s ownership of 110,000 tonnes of the process oil in the oil pipelines located in Latvia. The court also ruled against the recovery of LVL13.04 million in damages caused by OOO LatRosTrans draining 40,000 tonnes of the process oil from the Polotsk-Ventspils pipeline. The ruling did not come into effect because the Belarusian company appealed against it by lodging a petition of appeal with the Civil Affairs Chamber of the Supreme Court of Latvia. The petition will be heard in October 2013. In turn, after considering a private complaint of the Latvian company the Supreme Court rescinded the prohibition to displace oil but left the oil arrest in place. On 10 August the Court ruled to rescind the arrest as well. The ruling is not subject to appeal. Head of OOO LatRosTrans Igor Stepanov said they were intent to continue deactivating the Polotsk-Ventspils oil pipeline. The company intends to start preparations to drain oil and clean the pipeline soon. OAO Polotsktransneft Druzhba is the legal successor of the Novopolotsk-based oil transportation company Druzhba. Druzhba was converted into OAO Polotsktransneft Druzhba in late 2010. The company specializes in transporting Russian oil from West Siberia, Tatarstan and the Volga region to Belarus (Naftan Oil Refinery). The pipelines the company operates also allow transiting oil to the Baltic states. OOO LatRosTrans is a Latvian-Russian joint venture, in which Ventspils Nafta holds 66% of the shares and AK Transnefteprodukt owns 34% of the authorized fund. The company operates oil mains in Latvia. The oil mains are over 700 km long.

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