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Probably the most aggressive patrons of North Sea oil and fuel operations has defeated allegations he stripped thousands and thousands of {dollars} of property from a three way partnership that later collapsed.
The claims towards Francesco Mazzagatti, chief govt of Viaro Vitality, had been introduced in England’s Excessive Court docket by Taqa, Abu Dhabi’s nationwide power firm, and the UK’s Spirit Vitality.
It’s a important victory for Viaro, a privately held firm that has acquired pursuits in about 15 oilfields within the UK North Sea, the Atlantic Ocean west of Shetland and off the Netherlands over the previous 5 years.
The corporate has centered on eking out the remaining reserves from fields within the territory, that are rising exhausted and more durable to use.
Taqa and Spirit claimed that Viaro intentionally eliminated the worth from their three way partnership within the North Sea’s Brae oil and gasfields by declaring an $84mn dividend from an working firm generally known as UKCS8. The dividend was in favour of a mother or father managed by Viaro.
The case pitted the nationwide oil firms of two of the seven emirates within the United Arab Emirates towards one another. One of many defendants within the case alongside Viaro was Fujairah Oil and Fuel, nationwide oil firm of the emirate of Fujairah, to which Viaro bought its Brae property.
UKCS8 subsequently collapsed into insolvency, having defaulted on a minimum of £35mn in funds to collectors.
The declared dividend cancelled out an similar sum resulting from be paid from the mother or father to the working firm, that means no money modified arms.
In a judgment delivered on Friday, Mrs Justice Dias dismissed all of Taqa’s and Spirit’s allegations. She wrote she was “unable to just accept” claims that declaration of the dividend was a “final determined throw of the cube” to “dump” UKCS8 having first extracted all of its property.
The court docket heard that Taqa and Viaro had been at loggerheads over the way forward for the Brae property, with Taqa keen to finish manufacturing and Viaro eager to speculate and proceed with manufacturing.
Issues got here to a head as a result of in late 2020 UKCS8 wanted to place up £110mn in safety below its Decommissioning Safety Settlement (DSA), a mechanism meant to safe funds to decommission oil and gasfields.
Viaro had argued that it couldn’t instantly put up the safety and bought UKCS8 to Fujairah Oil and Fuel (FIOGC) in order that the UAE firm might use its credit standing as a state-owned firm to supply the mandatory assure.
“On my evaluation of the witness and documentary proof, I discover and maintain that the sale to FIOGC was agreed for a reputable business function, particularly, to interrupt the impasse with Taqa and to allow the supply of the required DSA safety,” the decide wrote.
The dividend was a “mandatory adjunct” to the sale, she added.
Mazzagatti mentioned after Friday’s judgment that he was “very happy” with the end result.
“At the moment the Excessive Court docket has given a really robust judgment in our favour, which categorically dismisses the entire Taqa and Spirit claims,” he mentioned.
Taqa in the meantime mentioned it remained assured of the explanations that its UK subsidiary, Taqa Bratani, introduced the claims.
“In session with its authorized groups, Taqa Bratani will probably be fastidiously contemplating the following steps it needs to pursue, which incorporates whether or not any appeals will probably be utilized for,” it mentioned.
Individually, a case lodged within the Excessive Court docket in November claimed Mazzagatti solid board paperwork to steal a minimum of €143.8mn from his former firm, Singapore’s Alliance Petrochemical and Funding.
The declare alleged that he used a minimum of a part of the misappropriated cash to purchase RockRose Vitality, proprietor of the Brae property. Mazzagatti and Francesco Dixit Dominus, Viaro’s finance director, deny these claims.
