Daugavpils court to consider lifting arrest of technological oil in the Polotsk-Ventspils pipeline

March 26, Minsk / Anna Kot - BELTA /. The Daugavpils Court (Latvia) will consider on March 29 of this year the application of LatRosTrans Ltd. to lift the interim measures concerning the technological oil located in the Polotsk-Ventspils main oil pipeline owned by the company on the territory of the Republic of Latvia. These measures imply the seizure of technological oil, as well as a ban on actions aimed at its draining and movement, BELTA was informed by Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC. Recall that on November 16, 2010, LatRosTrans Ltd. issued an official statement on its intention to begin displacing technological oil from its section of the Polotsk-Ventspils oil pipeline. In doing so, the company declared its ownership of the technological oil and its "legal rights" to its removal from the pipeline. Also on November 16, the company unilaterally terminated the lease agreement for premises with the representation of NRUPTN "Druzhba" (currently Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC) in Latvia, thereby restricting its access to the Ventspils reception and dispatch point. On November 25, LatRosTrans began draining the oil. Commenting on the actions of the Latvian-Russian company, Belneftekhim concern reported that it has documents confirming the ownership of the Belarusian enterprise of the technological oil, signed, among others, by the Latvian side, and sees no legal grounds for disputing this right. In addition, the concern's specialists expressed the opinion that the displacement of oil from the oil pipeline by LatRosTrans Ltd. and its filling with a mixture of gases would make it impossible to use the Polotsk-Ventspils oil pipeline section for oil pumping. After it became known about the start of pumping technological oil from the Polotsk-Ventspils oil pipeline, NRUPTN "Druzhba" began preparing documents to protect its rights in court. On December 3 last year, the Daugavpils Court accepted the claim of NRUPTN "Druzhba" against LatRosTrans Ltd. for the recognition of property rights and the prohibition of the use of movable property, and then imposed an arrest on the technological oil. Thus, LatRosTrans Ltd. is prohibited from taking actions aimed at draining and moving technological oil from the oil pipeline on the territory of Latvia. Currently, the interim measures remain in force. Polotsktransneft Druzhba Open Joint Stock Company is the successor to the Novopolotsk Republican Unitary Enterprise for Oil Transportation (NRUPTN) "Druzhba", which was reorganized into Polotsktransneft Druzhba OJSC at the end of 2010. The main task of the joint-stock company is the transportation of Russian oil from the West Siberian region, Tatarstan and the Volga region to Belarus (Naftan OJSC). The oil pipelines operated by the organization also allow for transit transportation of oil to the Baltic countries. LatRosTrans Ltd. is the largest Latvian-Russian joint venture in the Baltic countries, in which Ventspils Nafta JSC owns 66% and Transnefteprodukt OJSC owns 34% of the authorized capital. The enterprise ensures the transportation of oil and petroleum products through main pipelines on the territory of Latvia. The length of LatRosTrans' main pipelines exceeds 700 km. -0-