Singapore’s Dachex Shipping Pte. Ltd became the winner of the third stage of the procedure for selecting the customer for the processing of customer-supplied raw materials for JSC Odesa Port-Side Chemical Plant.
According to a statement on the plant’s website, the company offered the best additional conditions for cooperation, namely: the conclusion of a financing agreement (interest-free loan) for up to $20 million for a period of two years.
As reported, on April 19, 2021, Odesa Port-Side Chemical Plant suspended the procedure for selecting a “customer” at the claim of trader United Energy LLC, part of the Privat Group. At the same time, the plant said that it would appeal this court ruling in order to return to making a decision on the winner of the selection procedure or holding the third stage – negotiations.
First Deputy Head of the State Property Fund (SPF) Denys Kudin told Interfax-Ukraine that the other day the court sided with the enterprise.
Before receiving a court verdict on a pause in the competition, the plant held an electronic tender for the tolling processing of raw materials and shipment of products that day, in which ten companies took part.
ccording to the protocol of the exchange, all 10 participants in the auction offered the lowest possible “zero” coefficient of limit, which is part of the formula for calculating the “additional remuneration.” Accordingly, at the next stage, the plant shall negotiate with all bidders to determine the winner.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky believes that the state stakes of PJSC Centrenergo and PJSC Odesa Port-Side Chemical Plant are ready for sale at privatization tenders.
“I believe that the privatization of Centrenergo is important. Today we have cleared the company of many influential groups and Centrenergo is open [for privatization] … So is Odesa Port-Side Plant. I believe that it is ready for today,” he said, when speaking with journalists at the all-Ukrainian forum Ukraine 30. Economy without Oligarchs.
Zelensky noted that when selling large enterprises, it is not so much a one-time receipt of the maximum possible funds that is important, but the obligation of potential investors to invest in the modernization of companies with the subsequent stable receipt of taxes from their economic activities.
“It is important not how much the state will receive at once, but how much later – from taxes every month, every year. Business is not about buy and sell, this is not about mediation, business is a constant investment of money in technologies, in ideas,” the head of state explained.
As reported, in early June, the Supreme Court satisfied the claim of Odesa Port-Side Plant and the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) and denied Ostchem Holding Limited of Dmytro Firtash in the execution of the decision of the Stockholm Arbitration Court to recover over $ 300 million from Odesa Port-Side Plant for gas supplies.
According to Head of the SPF Dmytro Sennychenko, this is a very important decision for the transparent privatization of the plant, since now any potential buyer can be sure that creditors will not be able to challenge his ownership of the plant.
CENTRENERGO, PORT-SIDE PLANT, PRESIDENT ZELENSKY, PRIVATIZATION
The board of JSC Odesa Port-Side Plant has extended a control for tolling gas processing with Agro Gas Trading LLC from September 1, 2020.
The plant said that the contract was extended until the moment when the new winner of the tender is selected, but no later than the end of 2020. As part of the prolongation of the contract, the terms of cooperation have been improved: from September 1, the price for one tonne of ammonia will be $41 and $60 per tonne for urea.
The Odesa Port-Side Plant recalled that the last announced tender was blocked in courts by one of its participants, and the procedure for selecting a supplier company approved by the supervisory board of the plant provides for a ban on out-of-tender selection.
“According to the current legal regulations, the decision to extend the contract with the current tolling supplier was the only one to which the board had the right, taking into account the existing injunction, and no alternative from the point of view of ensuring the stable operation of the plant,” the plant said.
The plant said that the continuity of the production process in terms of improving financial and social performance is a priority for the company’s management.
PJSC Odesa Port-Side Chemical Plant (OPZ) started pre-commissioning and will resume its work on August 1, 2019, said OPZ Deputy Director on Economic and Financial Issues Volodymyr Vakeryak at a press conference regarding signing of give-and-take contract with LLC Agro Gas Trading (Kyiv). Agro Gas Trading Director General Oleksandr Horbunenko has said that the contract with the plant was signed by December 1, 2019 and foresees delivery of minimum 240 million cubic meters of the natural gas within four months.
For his part, Deputy Head of the State Property Fund Yevhen Astashev has said that NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy gave a green light to resuming of the works despite plant’s debts worth UAH 1.5 billion (plus penalties). The OPZ for its part is obliged to pay off the debts to Naftogaz sharing profits received from Agro Gas Trading for providing processing services ($1,5 per each carbamide tonne and $1 per each ammonia tonne).
“Production has been standing idle for more than a year, only the ammonia transshipment complex is working at the level of 2.3 million tonnes per year. The plant signed an agreement with a supplier, for whom we will perform gas processing services. In the near future we plan to start preparing for the launch of two carbamide facilities and one ammonia complex. If all the conditions of the contract are met, we could receive products in August,” he said.
As reported, Odesa Port-Side Chemical Plant has been standing idle since the end of April 2018. Its work was stopped due to violation by the contractor, All-Ukrainian Energy Company LLC, of the agreement with Ukrtransgaz.
The plant called work on a give-and-take basis the only possible option for resuming work in the face of failure of privatization attempts and accumulated debt for gas to NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, which exceeds UAH 1.5 billion.
Public joint-stock company Odesa Port-Side Plant until July 12, 2018 accept applications for selecting a new partner for processing gas into mineral fertilizers on a tolling basis. “We invite interested companies to send their bids, meeting the mandatory conditions regarding the processing of tolling natural gas at the plant until 16:00 Kyiv time on July 12, 2018,” the enterprise said on its website.
First Deputy Director Mykola Schurikov said that if it is necessary to conduct preliminary negotiations, it is possible to organize working meetings with the management of the enterprise.
As reported, All-Ukrainian Energy Company won a tender to use the facilities of Odesa Port-Side Plant for processing gas into mineral fertilizers on a tolling basis in December 2017.
However, on April 30, 2018, the plant was stopped, as the company violated the contract with Ukrtransgaz.
Schurikov said that the plant in two months of cooperation with All-Ukrainian Energy Company received over UAH 140 million and saw no losses.
Odesa Port-Side Plant refers to work on a tolling basis as the only possible option for resuming its operation in the conditions of a failure of privatization attempts and accumulated debt for gas to Naftogaz Ukrainy, which exceed UAH 1.5 billion.
The State Property Fund this week announced a tender to select an adviser for another attempt to privatize the plant and solve the problem of its debts to Naftogaz and Ostchem belonged to Dmytro Firtash. The adviser is given up to six months to find a way out of the situation.
