PRESS: Lukoil CEO confirms port price dispute with Rosneft

MOSCOW, Oct 2 (PRIME) -- Several factors have caused a dispute between Russian oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil over the cost of transshipment through the Varandei terminal, Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov told Vedomosti business daily in an interview released on Tuesday.

A representative of the Federal Antimonopoly Service told PRIME previously that oil companies Bashneft – a subsidiary of Rosneft – and Bashneft-Polyus – a joint venture of Bashneft and Lukoil – complained about a dispute around the transshipment price at the Varandei terminal. The service is to hear the case preliminarily on October 22.

Alekperov said, “There is a tough situation around the Trebs and Titov project. Several factors have coincided, including a change of the owner of the project and a consecutive revision of contracts signed by previous owners…And a dispute arose over the price for transshipment and transportation of products to the market.”

Lukoil suggested different solutions, including a swap of oil from Trebs and Titov for crude from the Timano-Pechyorskaya province, but Rosneft rejected the idea, he said.

“I hope that the service will work this out and make an objective decision. Development of the Trebs and Titov project was problematic, but our goal is to implement the project…We always aim at reaching agreements, so we are sure that we will be able to work out common conditions here,” he said.

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