MOSCOW, July 23 (RAPSI) – Russia’s largest oil corporation Rosneft has filed a 89-billion-ruble claim against five companies involved in international project Sakhalin-I, a ruling of the Sakhalin commercial court reads.

The plaintiff seeks to recover money allegedly accumulated by unjust enrichment as well as interest for using other entity’s funds in 2015-2018. The preliminary hearings are scheduled for September 10.

Rosneft asks the court to recover 26.7 billion rubles ($423.8 million) from Exxon Neftegas Limited and Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co Ltd. (SODESCO); 17.8 billion rubles ($282.5 million) from Indian VIdesh Ltd.; 10.2 billion rubles ($161,900) from Sakhalinmorneftegzs-Shelf company; 7.5 billion rubles ($119 million) from RN-Astra.

In 2017, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed decree ordering amicable agreement with Exxon Neftegas Limited controlled by the U.S. oil and gas corporation oil and gas company ExxonMobil in a tax dispute over the Sakhalin-I. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was ordered to sign the settlement on behalf of the Russian Federation, the document reads.

Exxon Neftegas Limited has lodged a lawsuit with the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) seeking tax refund which the company claims to have overpaid over the past seven years under the Sakhalin-I Production Sharing Agreement. Reportedly, the agreement was signed in the mid-1990s when Russian legislation stipulated 35% profit tax rates that were reduced to 20% in 2009. Russian authorities claimed that provisions were not subject to change.

Sakhalin-I is one of Russia’s largest projects involving direct foreign investments, as it is centered on use of advanced technology to extract resources in subarctic conditions.