A small Indian company, Gatik Ship Management, which owned just two chemical tankers in 2021, has become one of the largest shipowners in a year and a half. Registered in a small building in one of the shopping centers on the outskirts of Mumbai, the enterprise in record time has become the main oil partner of the Russian state company Rosneft. In addition, the company turned out to be associated with another company named exactly like Igor Sechin's favorite jazz group – Buena Vista Social Club. The rise of an unknown company tells the Financial Times.
According to VesselsValue experts, by April 2023, the fleet of Gatik Ship Management (GSM) has grown to 58 vessels with a total value of $1.6 billion. Moreover, this kind of fleet has turned an unknown company into a world leader in tanker transportation. According to VesselsValue, only 20 companies in the world own 50 or more vessels. With such a fleet, GSM has become a real competitor even for the Russian shipping giant Sovcomflot, which has only 60 ships.
The publication could not find a source of GSM funds for such a purchase by tankers. Moreover, the data of the official state register is practically empty – it was not possible to identify the official owner of the company. However, in the same shopping center where the company is registered, another company is registered – Buena Vista Shipping. This company appeared in India two years ago, and its assets, according to the state register, are estimated at about $100,000. The publication could not find the official owners of the "jazz company", however, market sources do not hide the fact that this company is associated with the Russian "Rosneft".
This connection is confirmed by the data of the analytical company Kpler, according to which GSM has delivered at least 83 million barrels of Russian oil and oil products to India, which makes it one of the largest suppliers of Russian products. The publication notes that such a volume of oil products would be enough to satisfy all demand in the UK for two months. Moreover, Kpler is confident that they have not recorded all deliveries, that is, in reality, this volume may be even higher.
“After Western sanctions, it was inevitable that Russian oil companies would want to get into shipping, and I think GSM is a prime example of that. A company in a country that is considered friendly to the Russian state appears out of nowhere, buys a huge number of tankers in less than a year and serves almost exclusively Russian flows,” says Victor Katona, head of crude oil market analysis at Kpler.
Moreover, the company is clearly used, among other things, to circumvent Western sanctions. The publication notes that if at the end of March about 35 GSM ships were insured in Western companies, then in April – not a single ship was in Western registries. To obtain insurance from Western companies, it is necessary to purchase Russian oil at a price below the ceiling set by the sanctions, that is, below $60 per barrel. Russian oil accounts for 78% of all the company's shipments (of which 49% is accounted for by Rosneft), although before the likely transfer of control of the company under the wing of Sechin's company, Russia accounted for only 16% of transportation.
The head of Rosneft has been cooperating with India for a long time, the state-owned company has a stake in a local oil refinery, which means it has experience in doing business in the local market, the newspaper notes. Moreover, Rosneft and Indian Oil signed an agreement in March to increase supplies, with Igor Sechin personally flying to India. The development of bilateral relations has brought Russia's share of India's oil exports from 1% to 30%, even as local companies complain that Russia's base oil (Urals) is too heavy for local refineries.
Representatives of the companies refused to answer the questions of the publication, while the formal relationship between GSM and Buena Vista is not completely clear. One of the employees said that both companies are part of a "group", but did not disclose details. At the same time, representatives of refineries that buy Russian oil claim that they buy oil directly from Rosneft, without intermediaries. The publication suggests that both companies are used to supply oil to India, and the legal entities themselves are apparently necessary in order not to attract attention. Moreover, if earlier Rosneft sold oil in a Russian port and did not include delivery in the cost, now, on the contrary, the cost already includes the delivery of fuel to India.
At the same time, the state-owned companies did not fully believe that Europe would break the already established supply chains and impose an embargo, the source of the publication claims. Back in 2014, Rosneft acquired the Zvezda shipyard and threatened to build its own fleet of tankers, fearing sanctions, but things did not go beyond grandiloquent speeches, the state-owned company does not have its own fleet, and the sanctions forced them to change their minds and look for a new way for deliveries.
In an attempt to find out more details, the Financial Times correspondent visited the offices of the companies in the shopping center, but on the spot he found only a bunch of letters addressed to GSM. The publication managed to find out that the company moved to a more respectable office, but the publication did not manage to get access there, as well as get a comment. The connection between Buena Vista Shipping and Igor Sechin and Rosneft can be seen in an article by a top manager – in December 2016, Igor Sechin wrote a column about jazz in the Russian Pioneer magazine.
“I boldly call Cuban jazz the most classical and never cease to enjoy the magnificent orchestra of the Buena Vista Social Club,” wrote Igor Sechin.
According to public records, Buena Vista has two directors, Indian citizens Umesh Suvarna Vasu and John Pinto Agnelo. Until recently, the company was actively looking for chefs and oilmen. This information was also confirmed in the old shopping center where the company shared premises with GSM. The publication also notes that all 56 vessels purchased over the past 18 months are officially registered offshore in the Marshall Islands, whose authorities do not disclose data on the final owners of the vessels. At the same time, the GSM fleet has a Buena Vista vessel, which, by “coincidence or completely coincidental coincidence,” is registered to another company – Social Club Inc.