Unipro, Fortum, TGK-1 added to list of energy companies subject to restrictions on sale of shares
MOSCOW. Nov 10 (Interfax) - President Vladimir Putin has approved a list of energy companies and energy sector service providers that are subject to a ban on transactions with their shares and contributions to charter capital without special permission from the Russian president.
An order to this effect has been posted on the official website for legal information and went into effect upon publication.
The list includes power companies PJSC Unipro , PJSC Fortum and its assets in renewable energy, PJSC TGK-1 , PJSC T Plus and the companies of Siemens Energy and General Electric.
Some transactions in the energy sector, including with companies on the list, have already taken place. For example, Lukoil and the Gazprombank-Freziya fund were granted permission to acquire Italian energy company Enel's stake in Enel Russia , which is on the list, and the deal has been closed.
Inter RAO has said that it received permission to buy Siemen Energy's stakes in Siemens Gas Turbine Technologies and Voronezh Transformers. The German company still has a number of assets in Russia, including JSC Siemens.
France's Schneider Electric has announced the transfer of its assets in Russia to local management, and in mid-October the company received permission to sell JSC SESH Holding, the management company of the Electroshield Group - TM Samara plant, to Russian investor Acron Industry.
Uniper, the principal shareholder of PJSC Unipro, and Finland's Fortum, owner of PJSC Fortum, a number of wind power assets in Russia and a stake of about 30% in TGK-1, have announced plans to sell their Russian assets.
The list of oilfield service companies includes the Russian divisions of Schlumberger, Weatherford, KCA Deutag, PeWeTe, as well as Eurasia Drilling Company (EDC), Paket-Servis, NewTech Services and other industry companies. The list also mentions the Russian companies of Baker Hughes, although Putin approved their sale to Oil Service Technologies LLC with an order published on November 4.
The list also includes companies that make equipment for the oil and gas sector, including Transneft Oil Pumps, a joint venture between Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft , Italy's Termomeccanica Pompe and JSC Konar, and the Russian assets of HMS Group and U.S. company NOV (formerly National Oilwell Varco).
The list also mentions polyvinyl chloride and caustic soda producer RusVinyl LLC, which is a joint venture between Russian petrochemical group SIBUR and Belgium's Sovay, and companies of Germany's BASF that trade fertilizer and seeds.
The list of energy companies, which includes 191 companies in total, was approved under presidential decree No. 520 of August 5, 2022, "On special economic measures in the finance and fuel and energy sectors in connection with the unfriendly actions of certain foreign states and international organizations." The decree directly bans non-residents from countries unfriendly to Russia from exiting assets at least until the end of 2022, and the ban can be extended repeatedly. Exceptions to carry out transactions can be made with the president's special permission.