Ukrainian authorities step up inspections of Smart Holding's oil and gas assets, one license suspended
MOSCOW. April 13 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Geological Survey has suspended the license of the company Ukrgazvydobutok, part of Smart Holding, for the Ostroverkhovskoye gas condensate field in the Kharkov region, Ukrainian media reported, citing the Geological Survey.
According to the Ukrainian Geological Survey, the decision was made on Wednesday on the basis of the Law on Oil and Gas in connection with the imposition of sanctions against Vadim Novinsky.
In addition, with an order dated April 12, 2023, the agency gave a representative office of Regal Petroleum Corporation Limited, which is part of Smart Energy, until June 1, 2023 to provide additional information or eliminate violations in the disclosures relating to the ultimate beneficial owners of the MEX-GOL and SV licenses in the Poltava region.
The Security Service of Ukraine on April 10 conducted a search at the Enwell Energy, formerly known as Regal Petroleum office in Yakhniki and removed a number of documents. The search was carried out in connection with a pre-trial investigation relating to criminal proceedings concerning the circumstances surrounding the restructuring of the Smart group, which had announced a change of owner.
Enwell Energy said that following search, the office received decisions from the Shevchenkovsky District Court in Kiev on the imposition of a seizure on the physical assets of two companies of the group: representative offices of Regal Petroleum and Arkona Gas-Energy.
As a result there is a "restriction on carrying out any actions that would change registration of the property rights relating to such assets," Enwell Energy has said. "However, the use of such assets is not restricted and therefore the company is able to continue to operate and produce gas and condensate from these licenses," it said.
The Ukrainian Justice Ministry has issued an order to cancel the registration record of the subsidiary LLC Regal Petroleum Corporation (Ukraine) Limited in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs regarding ultimate beneficial owners.