Chornomornaftogaz (also: Chernomorneftegaz, , , lit. "Black Sea oil and gas") is an oil and gas company located along Krymgazseti in Simferopol, Crimea. The company was established with the order of the Ministry of Gas Industry of the USSR on 20 October 1978 №209-org to develop oil and gas resources in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. It is legally a subsidiary of Ukraine's state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz. However, after the 2014 Crimean crisis it was seized by the region's parliament in the run-up to its annexation by Russia. There was also a privately owned oil company Chernomorneftegaz, registered in Moscow in 1998 and purchased by Rosneft in 2011, which is not linked to Chornomornaftogaz. History The company was established with the order of the Ministry of Gas Industry of the USSR on October 20, 1978 №209-org to develop oil and gas resources in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The May 2012 purchase of Petro Hodovanets (ex-West Juno) and Nezalezhnist was criticized due to corruption and money laundering allegations and higher purchase price that the market price. These rigs were nicknamed the "Boyko towers" after the former energy minister Yuriy Boyko. Its total reserves of all fields are estimated at of natural gas, 1.231 million tons of natural-gas condensate, and 2.53 million tons of crude oil. In 2013, Chornomornaftogaz produced of natural gas. In 2012, it produced of natural gas, 62,800 tonnes of natural-gas condensate, and 8,900 tonnes of crude oil. The research group IHS reported that in 2013 Chornomorneftegaz accounted for 7.9% of Ukraine's gas production and 2.4% of its oil production. During annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 the company was seized by the region's parliament in the run-up to its annexation by Russia. In February 2014, Ukraine's state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz sued Chornomornaftogaz for delayed debt payments of 11.614 billion UAH (almost €1 billion) in the Economic Court of the Crimean Autonomous Republic. In March 2014, Crimean authorities announced that they would nationalize the company. Crimean deputy prime minister Rustam Temirgaliev said that Russia's Gazprom would be the new owner. A group of Gazprom representatives, including its head of business development, has been working at the Chornomornaftogaz head office since mid-March 2014. Formally, nationalized assets were transferred to the newly established company Crimean Republican Enterprise Chernomorneftegaz, which was later reorganized into state unitary enterprise Chernomorneftegaz.