After russian oil and fuel came under Western sanctions, there have been many reports on how businesses are responding and getting adapted to the new conditions resulting from russian aggression.
In particular, this week, the Polish Grupa Orlen announced that it had cancelled its last contract with tatneft for the supply of russian oil. "Tatneft, in turn, purchases 570 fuel stations in Turkey from Aytemiz Akaryakit. The transaction price is $320 million.
lukoil is also an influential russian player in the Turkish fuel market. The company came here in 2008 and is not going to leave. In Ukraine, its history began in 1999 and is unfolding quite differently.
In 2015, after russia temporarily occupied Crimea and part of Donbas, the Austrian company AMIC Energy Management GmbH became the owner of lukoil's Ukrainian assets. 240 petrol stations and six oil depots were sold for $300 million. The company, founded two years before the deal, was headed by Robert Nowek, who, according to open sources, worked for lukoil in the European Union.
(According to the information provided by AMIC after the interview was published, the chairman of AMIC's Supervisory Board from 2013 to 2017 was Wolfgang Rüttenstorfer, former CEO and chairman of the Board of OMV Group and former state secretary at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance, and the CEO since the company's inception was Gunther Maier. – Mind)
Today, its managing director and main beneficiary is Günter Maier, whose career used to be associated with the Austrian oil and gas corporation OMV.
According to YouControl, he owns 45% of AMIC Energy Management GmbH, a Vienna-based company that owns the foreign-invested enterprise Amik Ukraine (it sells petroleum products at fuel stations under the AMIC brand).
Last year, AMIC's business in Ukraine found itself at the centre of a scandal after the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine (ESBU) announced the seizure of assets and corporate rights of "one of the largest petrol station chains in Ukraine." The chain's management was accused of tax evasion and legalisation of over UAH 1 billion for the benefit of russian citizens.
Mind met with Günter Maier a few hours before the viewing of the film Risks and Side Effects, which kicked off the Austrian Film Week at the Zhovten cinema in Kyiv.
We talked about his perception of the current situation around AMIC's Ukrainian business and the effects of russian aggression. The businessman also spoke about the effectiveness of anti-russian sanctions on the fuel market imposed by our Western allies.
- How did AMIC respond to russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24.02.2022?
- From the very first day, we tried to ensure a stable supply of petroleum products for our company. Our oil depot in Borodianka was shelled, but the enemy did not get the fuel. The logistics issue came first. Standard routes for delivering fuel by rail were out of order. So we started bringing it in by road, but in much smaller quantities.
- How did all this affect your future work? Did you feel the rush around the shortage of petroleum products much?
- The logistics routes collapse and shortage of delivery vehicles were short-term challenges. However, competition can solve any short-term problems, so they do not affect the overall situation.
- Can you provide us wuth more details about last year's financial results?
- Prior to the full-scale invasion, we operated 227 petrol stations, three oil depots and airline refuelling facilities at the international airports of Odesa, Kyiv and Kharkiv. At the end of 2022, we operated only 199 petrol stations.
AMIC's revenue in Ukraine fell by about 25% in 2022 (in 2021, revenue was over UAH 11 billion – Mind). Since the onset of the full-scale invasion, AMIC Energy in Ukraine has suffered losses of about €20 million – this is a preliminary estimate. The terminal in Borodianka was destroyed. 36 our petrol stations were damaged, 13 of which we have rebuilt. Part of Ukraine's territoryremains under temporary occupation, where we have 19 petrol stations.
We have to live with this. I hope the war will end soon and we will be able to operate in normal conditions.
- What is AMIC's current share in the Ukrainian fuel market?
- We estimate it at 6-7%.
- Is the burden of losses you mentioned exclusively your problem?
- For now, it is. We have filed a lawsuit against russia with the European Court of Human Rights to compensate for the assets lost in the occupied areas and the losses incurred as a result of the aggressor country's actions.
We could not but file this lawsuit and protect ourselves legally. We hope for a positive outcome, as there are all the prerequisites for this.
We could not but file this lawsuit and protect ourselves legally. We hope for a positive outcome, as there are all the prerequisites for this.
- How tangible do you think the effect of anti-russian sanctions has been?
- There are no problems with oil products in the world at all. Evidence of this is that the market was able to rebuild in 2022. russian oil and russian petroleum products are under Western restrictions, but businesses have found alternative ways to eliminate the deficit. Prices for European consumers have already relatively stabilised and in some countries have begun to drop.
The main lesson I want to emphasise from the effect of the sanctions is that the market is capable of settling everything.
- There is also a lot of information that the oil products that come to Europe are also of russian origin. So trade with the aggressor goes on despite the ban?
- It is easy to confirm the origin of petroleum products: for each batch of goods, we receive a passport of the manufacturer or a EURO1 certificate indicating the country of origin. We know that Western sanctions against russia work well.
The Ukrainian resident suppliers with whom we conclude agreements assure us and provide supporting documents – certificates and passports that indicate the manufacturer of the product or the country of origin, so we know that we are not supplied with fuel of russian origin.
- What oil products does AMIC currently sell in Ukraine?
- After AMIC Energy officially started operating on the Ukrainian market, we began to import petroleum products from Orlen in Lithuania. In addition, we expanded our partnership network with various EU countries, mostly Poland, Lithuania, Austria and Hungary. From day one, Amic Energy has supplied and continues to supply petroleum products produced by: Mažeikiai refinery of the Polish concern Orlen, UNIMOT, Slavnaft, and the Austrian concern OMV.
It seemed reasonable to us to keep Western supply routes. Personally, I am not aware of any examples when Russian petroleum products being sold in Ukraine. Sanctions are in effect. However, I suppose that there may be dishonest companies that continue to cooperate with Russia.
- I have read that fuel from Austrian OMV is going to be available at AMIC petrol stations in Ukraine.
- Yes, we expect the first batch in April. We didn't have this opportunity before, but now we do.
- Thanks to the anti-russian sanctions?
- Yes, it is. I would like to emphasise that OMV's oil products for Ukraine will not be of russian origin, they are produced at OMV Group plants in Romania, Austria or Germany.
- What are AMIC's current "relations" with the Bureau of Economic Security? Have the claims been exhausted?
- The pre-trial investigation is ongoing. We receive many requests from the ESBU, which we must respond to and do so within the timeframe specified by law. Some of the documents were taken by law enforcement officers to check during the search. If you look into the ESBU's claims, they are purely economic, about paying or not paying taxes.
However, we were unpleasantly surprised when our story became widely publicised.
If a foreign investor has its assets seized without any violation, it does not send a good signal to other international companies and investors who want to help rebuild the country. And when this is accompanied by an aggressive, unfounded media message, it comes as a bit of a shock from the perspective of EU countries, which are used to a different approach to law enforcement.
- But why did the AMIC story become so widely known among companies operating in the Ukrainian fuel market?
- The Bureau published a tough press release, and this turned the case into a high-profile one. To a certain extent, I understand why we are under fire – we once bought a business from the russians.
And I can understand the strong emotion that arose after the outbreak of the full-scale invasion – "to check everything and everyone". But I hope that Ukraine is still following the path of the rule of law, emotions will subside and our case will be considered in an objective and impartial manner, as required by law.
Moreover, AMIC's case is not the only one in Ukraine. Hundreds of companies are inspected by various authorities based on certain parameters, some of them are included in sanctions lists, while others are closed and claims are withdrawn following the results of inspections. Some cases progress faster, some slower.
- Are there any grounds for the version that competitors are interested in raiding AMIC petrol stations and the terminal?
- I don't see any such context in this story, although ESBU's allegations came as a surprise to us. We don't feel that our case is any special at all. Perhaps this is due to the fact that our company has begun to actively cooperate with the ESBU and try to get to the bottom of the matter, providing all the documents requested by investigators.
In any case, Ukraine must guarantee legal security for businesses, meaning that the law, not the private interests of individuals, should be paramount.
Interest groups that have access to the government or enjoy its loyalty should not decide the fate of businesses. We also need independent courts. Only under these conditions can Ukraine attract powerful investments and integrate into the EU.
I am confident that after the war is over, Ukraine will become a rapidly growing market and therefore attract foreign investors.
Gas United. Svitlana Dolinchuk's original Telegram channel: