News

After an extensive consultation, Rusneftegaz can announce that we have elected to postpone any formal requirement for our staff to return to solely office-based working on a temporary basis. Whilst a significant proportion of administrative employees have heretofore returned to their posts either partially or in full, in many instances this has not been possible for a variety of justifiable reasons. As many will be aware, it was originally intended that our administrative and office-based workers would fully return to their respective workplaces during the summer of this year. However, management regularly audits our coronavirus mitigation strategy every three weeks, and has previously opted to delay a complete end to home working twice at reviews in both June and July. As a result, there is now consensus amongst our board that there are such low prospects of the majority of our staff returning to any kind of office-based work before respiratory virus rates surge with the advent of autumn, that it is no longer necessary to analyze the prospects of an end to home working at regular intervals. Instead, our management shall determine when the conditions are pertinent for a return to the policies set forth prior to March 2020, and at such a time a return to regular workstations shall be compulsory and non-negotiable. In response to this news, our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Aleksandr Filyurin, gave these remarks in response: 

“It is obviously very disappointing that we cannot end remote working at this time, but we understand the reasons why, and know that we have to compromise during these challenging times. The remote working arrangement has not been good for Rusneftegaz, we have suffered in terms of productivity, and in terms of collaboration and effectiveness. I think it is important to state that we have no intention of retaining this policy in any capacity when the pandemic ends. Put simply, it has not worked for us in the way that we hoped. The only positive for us is that it has ensured that our staff have been able to do enough to keep this company functioning during this time, but there are a lot of things have been delayed or neglected entirely. A lot of these problems are not our fault, other companies have been working at a reduced capacity too, and that has affected our plans. But at board level, we are working to rectify this once the pandemic is over, and hope that we will be in a position to complete all these plans when the time is right.” 

We can also disclose that we do not intend to introduce or enforce any type of vaccination mandate upon our staff unless obliged to do so by law, although in the instance that aforementioned legislation were to take effect in any of the jurisdictions our organization operates in, it would compel any unvaccinated workers to perform their roles remotely where possible. Any instances where this would not be possible shall be managed on a case-by-case basis at the appropriate time. For all those who do not operate in an office-based role, which includes the majority of our employees, we can confirm that all existing protocols and containment measure are to remain, and will continue to be reviewed and updated every three weeks as per usual. This includes the ongoing and compulsory FFP3, N99 and or 12.4.191-2011 mask mandate when inside company buildings and structures, with Rusneftegaz continuing to provide these aforementioned coverings to all our workers at no cost for the foreseeable future. Such stringent regulations have resulted in our organization successfully containing the pandemic, with only a nominal number of cases affiliated with close contact in a work environment on sites controlled by our company. Any questions by staff in relation to this statement should be submitted to their manager in due course. Similarly, all general queries pertaining to the matter discussed in this bulletin should be directed via the usual channel, such as telephone and email. We necessitate your cooperation and understanding with such affairs at this concerning time.

Despite a number of previous warnings, Rusneftegaz would like to once again reiterate that we only sell petroleum products via regulated commodities exchanges, and under no circumstances do we orchestrate transactions through intermediaries. If anyone reading this bulletin has received documents pertaining to a potential commodity transaction through these mediums, it is a scam and consequently should be reported to the relevant authorities immediately. Since such schemes were first conceived, fraudsters have been illegally appropriating the name and logo of our entity and our subsidiaries to produce fake materials in connection with these businesses, including commercial offers and price lists for crude and refined oils. In the majority of cases, this paperwork also utilizes information taken directly from our website, such as written text and the names of our employees, to give it a veneer of authenticity. However, it is common for the criminals to alter key details, primarily telephone numbers and email addresses, to ensure that all communications are directed to the malign actors. In response to this pervasive threat, our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Aleksandr Filyurin, made this statement: 

“We are today issuing another warning about fraud as a result of a number of concerning reports we have been receiving over recent weeks. We urge everyone to vigilant about the risk of fraud, especially when trying to do business in this industry. We are seeing a lot of very naïve buyers trying to buy large quantities of oil products from us, and it is clear that none of them have any real idea what they are doing. To speak plainly, if anyone reading this is thinking about sending us an email from a free account asking us to buy hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of oil, you are wasting your time. You need to do proper research before you even think about doing anything like this, and even then, you need to find yourself a good broker if you are serious about it. I urge anyone reading this to research this process fully before trying anything like this, and to do basic due diligence before committing any money too.” 

As a result, we are requesting that all of those seeking to do business with us be in a state of heightened vigilance against the threat of fraud and other serious offenses. Foremost, all third parties should thoroughly check all the disclosed files for clear and obvious errors. Namely, this is inclusive of but not limited to the use of different domain names that have no relation to our official rusneftegaz.com email address to send electronic correspondences, and messages received from internet protocol (IP) addresses located in places that are not associated with us. It is also in addition to amendments to contact data that do not match those published on our site, and proposals to arrange sales with entities or individuals that are not affiliated with our corporation. Likewise, it is crucial for us to clarify that no member of our executive leadership acts as a signatory to any of these deals, nor does our organization have an export department or any other similarly named body within our corporate structure. With all this accounted for, we advise anyone who holds suspicions regarding an arrangement with our company to approach us as soon as possible, particularly if an imminent transfer of funds is forthcoming. Due to the severity and complexity of this matter, we necessitate your cooperation to prevent significant monetary losses from occurring.

Last year, the management board resolved to examine the possibility of revising the agreed 2020-2024 Investment Strategy for potential savings, largely in order to mitigate the economic costs of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Ultimately, the board of directors convened last week and concluded after extensive deliberation that this stratagem should be significantly revised as a result. Ultimately, our previous cash flow forecasts for 2020 are notably different to the monetary reality, and to preserve the long-term financial integrity of our organization, it is integral to replenish cash balances. Following this resolution, our Deputy Chief Executive Officer Aleksandr Filyurin, gave this response: 

“The decisions that we have come to are obviously extremely disappointing. I wish that there was an alternative solution to this. The board and I played a major role in creating these plans, so it is extremely sad for me personally that these ideas may never come to fruition. I would also like to apologize to all the members of our team who researched and helped us create these plans too, without them these plans ideas would have never been thought of in the first place. That said, I am still optimistic that we will be able revive some of this in the future when all this is over, I cannot reliably predict when it will end, but it will at some point. Sometimes doing this job is hard, especially when you worked so hard to do something, but we must act in the best interests of the company. To be direct with you, I refuse to apologize for that, especially when our staff are dependent on us for their livelihoods and to support their families.” 

As such, it has been decided that the termination clauses of various contracts that Rusneftegaz and its subsidiaries are party to shall now be activated, and all non-urgent redevelopment proposals that are at pre-development or preliminary stages will go no further. However, the board of directors still intends to either expand the current international office, or open a second global trading hub, by the end of 2022. Management will communicate the results of this revised investment strategy with the corresponding parties over the coming weeks, and will not announce publicly which projects are expected to be terminated at this time. We necessitate your cooperation and understanding in regards to these decisions, and request that any questions affiliated with these changes should be directed via email or telephone.