friendship of Peoples

Tatarstan plans to open a trading house in Crimea. This was reported by the press service of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people with reference to the words of the head of the department for the development of international and interregional cooperation of Tatarstan Aidar Abdrakhmanov, who was part of the delegation of the republic that recently visited the Crimean autonomy. According to Mr. Abdrakhmanov, the trading house is designed to promote the establishment of economic ties between the two regions, as well as the development of interethnic relations between Ukraine and Russia. The main purpose of the visit of the delegation from Tatarstan was to consider the mechanism for restoring and establishing cooperation between Tatarstan and Crimea.
Interfax
The Russian-Ukrainian CJSC Ukrtatnafta intends to apply to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) with a request for permission to purchase the state stake (50+1%) in OJSC Ukrnafta. The press service of Ukrtatnafta reported this, noting that these actions are supported by all shareholders of the company. OJSC Tatneft, together with the government of Tatarstan and friendly companies, controls 56% of the shares of Ukrtatnafta, the State Property Fund owns 43.1% of the shares. “The acquisition of Ukrnafta’s production capacity would be a logical continuation of previously announced and economically justified plans for processing crude oil from Ukrainian fields at the technological facilities of the Kremenchug Refinery,” the statement says. Today, Ukrtatnafta purchases only part of the crude oil from Ukrainian fields at auctions. It is planned that Ukrnafta will become part of the production link in the vertically integrated oil company created back in 1995 on the basis of Ukrtatnafta. The press service recalled that Ukrtatnafta owns 73.92% of the shares of the oil producing company Tatnefteprom (Tatarstan). In the 70s, the only complex in Ukraine and one of the few in the CIS for the production of motor and industrial oils was built at the Kremenchug Oil Refinery. For the stable delivery of petroleum raw materials, the main oil pipeline “Gnedintsy-Glinsko-Rozbyshevskaya-Kremenchug”, with a length of 213 km, was put into operation. In 2002, Ukrtatnafta processed almost 7 million tons of crude oil. The company plans to increase processing volumes to 12 million tons per year (the production capacity of the enterprise is 18 million tons). Earlier, Deputy Chairman of the State Property Fund Mikhail Chechetov said that 50% plus 1 share of Ukrnafta would be offered for sale, the cost of which could reach 2 billion hryvnia (approximately $375 million). According to Mr. Chechetov, for the successful privatization of an oil producing company, it is necessary to take a “coordinated decision of parliament and government.”
AK&M

Privatization

Today, the Ministry of Property Relations of Bashkiria will put up for a specialized auction 29.08% of the shares of Beloretsk Metallurgical Plant OJSC, owned by the republic, the Ministry of Property said in a statement. 2334.593 thousand ordinary shares with a par value of 1 ruble are put up for auction. The initial sale price of one share is 39.46 rubles. The authorized capital of Beloretsk Metallurgical Plant OJSC is 8.029 million rubles, it is divided into 7.467 million ordinary and 562 thousand preferred shares with a par value of 1 ruble. The total amount of the steel plant's accounts payable as of August 1, 2003 was 1.685 billion rubles, including overdue accounts - 1.134 billion rubles. Debts to the federal budget amount to 100.83 million rubles, to the budget of the republic - 258.561 million rubles. In the first half of 2003, the iron and steel plant received a net profit of 52.614 million rubles. against a net loss for the same period in 2002 in the amount of 162.8 million rubles. The plant is part of the industrial holding company Mechel Steel Group OJSC. The holding stated that “the group is participating in this auction.” Currently, the group has already consolidated a controlling stake in this enterprise. A representative of Mechel Steel Group could not name all the participants in the upcoming auction, but noted that they included one individual.
Interfax

Oil and capital

OJSC Russian Innovative Fuel and Energy Company (RITEK) plans to increase the volume of investments in 2004 by 35% compared to 2003 - up to 2.3 billion rubles. According to the company, financing in this amount does not include investments in the program for the development of the Kama region of Tatarstan and the horizontal drilling program at the Sredne-Khulymskoye field. Financing is planned to be provided from the company’s own sources. It is expected that about 62% of this amount will be spent on drilling, more than 18% on construction, 7.8% on geological exploration and 5.6% on equipment.
AK&M
OJSC Tatneft will withdraw the tire pyrolysis unit (UPASH) from the Irkenneft oil and gas production department into an independent enterprise - KamEco LLC. According to the chief engineer of Irkenneft, Ravil Khamitov, the installation, which has no analogues in the world, will reach its designed processing capacity of 1.5 thousand tons of tires per year by the end of this year. At the same time, the annual need of Tatneft itself for the recycling of old tires is about 1 thousand tons. Mr. Khamitov said that Tatneft will independently replicate UPAS for sale both in Russia and abroad. The pilot plant was built in 1997. The maximum diameter of tires processed by the installation is 1800 mm (wheels from KrAZ). Currently, documentation has been developed to increase the size to 2100 mm (BelAZ). The developer of the UPASH is Kazan OJSC TatNIIneftemash, the manufacturer is Bugulminsky Mechanical Plant LLC (both are subsidiaries of Tatneft).
AK&M

Incidents

In Kazan, near the railway track at the Lagernaya station, two artillery shells from the Civil War were found. Sappers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan were called to the site where the shells were discovered. They found that the 85 mm and 122 mm shells were in a corrosive state. They have now been sent for destruction. In October alone, during excavation work in Kazan, 5 artillery shells were found.
Interfax

Kommersant (Kazan) No. 203 from 05.11.2003

Vedomosti – Kommersant Kazan