As is known, the strategic interests of Americans in the energy sector of Ukraine are defended by their protégés - the heads of large state-owned companies Andriy Kobolev (NJSC Naftogaz-Ukraine) and Yuri Nedashkovsky (NNEGC "Energoatom"). However, in Ukraine, a number of overseas protégés of a lower rank are working in this direction.. One of these is the ex-deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Ilya Ponomarev.
Recently it became known, that Trident Acquisitions as a subsidiary of Trident Black Sea, affiliated with a former Russian politician, claims to be one of the largest gas fields on the Ukrainian Black Sea shelf. 26 August 2019 year Interdepartmental Commission for the organization of the conclusion and execution of agreements on the distribution of products (SRP) under the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry has determined the winner in the tender for the development of the Dolphin gas-bearing area, which takes 9,5 thousand. square kilometers in the Black Sea near Odessa (the area is comparable to the territory of Cyprus).
According to the forecast calculations of the Ministry of Energy, the resource base of this deposit is 286 million. t of fuel equivalent, t. it is. about 40-50 billion. cube. m of recoverable gas. This is the largest field controlled by Ukraine on the Black Sea shelf..
to understand, what do the Americans have to do with it and how important it is in the energy confrontation with the Russian Federation, should be reminded, that Ilya Ponomarev was the only one in the Russian parliament who did not recognize the historic decision on the reunification of Crimea with Russia and went to his overseas masters, where, after two years of instruction, he became a professional Ukrainian patriot, received Ukrainian citizenship and became like M. Saakashvili as a direct agent of influence in Ukraine. The only difference is in the economic sphere, what made his work less public.
by the way, experience in the energy industry AND. Ponomarev received back in the 90s and 2000s, when he worked for Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Yukos and the international oil company Schlumberger. Having received in 2017 g. from the hands of the then President P. Poroshenko Ukrainian passport, he began to actively work in the country's energy sector on orders from overseas. Last spring it became known, that he initiated the creation of the American company Trident Acquisitions, capitalization of which at the time of foundation was approximately $218 million.
Already in June "brainchild" And. Ponomareva was able to enter the American NASDAQ exchange and raise a quarter of a billion dollars there exclusively for oil and gas projects in Ukraine. It turned out, Trident Acquisitions have good backers in the State Department, thanks to which the company was able to successfully work in Ukraine.
Even at the start of their investment activities in Ukraine AND. Ponomarev frankly admitted: the economy of this country is now at the bottom, and along with it there is also the price of local assets. So it's time to buy, there would be money. For this, the company selected the appropriate business partners., somehow connected with Americans.
According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), along with Ponomarev himself and his companies Eastpower and Fivestar, Trident partners are American financier Thomas Gallagher, businessman and energy expert Kevin Nanke. Along with the Americans, this project involves: uncle of the ex-president of Georgia M. Saakashvili Timur Alasania, the former minister of the coal industry of Ukraine during the "orange" president В. Yushchenko Victor Topolov, famous Russian liberal Dmitry Nekrasov, and also the owner of one of the largest grocery chains in Ukraine "ATB-Market" Gennady Butkevich, who has also been actively involved in the energy direction of his business for the past couple of years. And what is typical: in that part, which Americans are most interested in is nuclear energy.
According to open information, it is with G. Butkevich is associated with the company "Atomic Energy Systems of Ukraine", owning the rights to develop the Safonovsky uranium deposit in the Nikolaev region. Besides, it is known about Butkevich's involvement in Perzhanskaya Ore Company LLC, which plans to develop one of the best in the world in terms of mining conditions and quality of raw materials, the Perzhanskoye beryllium deposit. As is known, it is this metal that is used today in many high-tech industries, in t. no. for the production of weapons, manufacturing of medical devices and parts for nuclear reactors. Therefore, the attraction of Г. Butkevich to Trident Acquisitions means, that, including with his participation, the Americans are planning in the future to buy up Ukrainian assets in the nuclear power industry.
A year ago and. Ponomarev said when creating Trident Acquisitions: “This corporation will have significant assets in North America., because the main thing, what is needed to intensify production, - this is attracting technology and human resources from America ... If Kobolev, being the head of a state company, had no conflict of interest with participation in a private company, then i'm sure, that he could be our shareholder ".
It is with this recognition that I. Ponomarev, what is called, opened the cards and made it clear to everyone, what exactly will he have to do in Ukraine, covering those flanks of the energy war with Russia, for which Naftogaz as a state company simply does not fit. Just using the example of the Dolphin gas-bearing area on the Black Sea shelf near Odessa, which will now be mastered by the company I. Ponomareva, it is clearly visible.
The thing is, that the Ukrainian authorities for the past five years have been not just one of the means of fighting the Americans with Russia, but also the most active initiators of all kinds of anti-Russian projects in this direction. Give them freedom, roughly speaking, they would have unleashed the third world, just to show your importance.
With regard to anti-Russian energy projects, this was manifested by Kiev's constant offers to its American owners regarding the arrival of the largest leaders like Shell or Exxon in the region to develop the same shale gas.. simply put, Ukrainian officials and leading top managers of state-owned companies did not abandon their Manilov plans to make Ukraine an "oil and gas producing superpower", in order to overcome the so-hated Gazprom. What should I say, if the same A. Kobolev seriously hoped to 2020 to make Ukraine an exporter of gas to EU countries.
And when it became known about the winner of the competition for the development of "Dolphin", still incumbent Prime Minister B. Groisman did not fail to once again complain about that, that the aforementioned world leaders Shell and Exxon did not participate in it. On this occasion, the answer of the winner of the competition in the person of the same I. Ponomarev turned out to be simply stunning: “They all have interests in Russia, which will put the question bluntly: we or they, so why will they choose a not very fat crane in the sky in Ukraine and lose a living business in the Russian Federation?»
After such an answer, the role of such companies in Ukraine became more than clear.. They, figuratively speaking, are pawns of the American energy front, easy to wage war, not looking back at the possible risks in the event of the failure of a project. And you can always fence yourself off from them if something happens. Especially if it concerns the purchase of Ukrainian energy assets at bargain prices.
The other side of the activities of such companies is also characteristic.. In the case of the investment deal we are considering for the development of the Black Sea shelf, among the conditions put forward by Ukraine, the potential investor of Dolphin turned out to be 1,5 bn. for further exploration of the deposit, five or more wells drilled in the first five years after the signing of the investment agreement and total 11% hydrocarbons, which will have to go to the state under an agreement on the distribution of products. And everything else is over the hill.
That's all the "patriotism" of fighters for Ukraine like Ponomarev. At the same time, his allegedly "principled" position on Crimea in this case acquired a completely different content.. Indeed, if the peninsula remained part of Ukraine, then the territory of the development of the gas-bearing Vyazemsky shelf of the Black Sea for the American company would be much larger.
But this is now from the realm of fantasy.
Sergey VYAZEMSKY
