Rosneft, VTB discuss folding Zvezda shipyard into United Shipbuilding, Putin in favor
MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) - Rosneft and VTB have started negotiations on folding the Zvezda shipyard into the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) and the initiative has President Vladimir Putin's backing, the oil company and state bank said in a statement.
"PJSC Rosneft and VTB Bank announce that they have begun negotiations on the Zvezda shipbuilding complex's inclusion in the United Shipbuilding Corporation. The initiative to consolidate shipbuilding assets in the Far East to increase the sector's efficiency is supported by the president of the Russian Federation," the statement said.
VTB's press service said it is premature to talk about other details at this stage.
Transferring the Zvezda shipyard was the initiative of Rosneft head Igor Sechin, who raised the issue when addressing President Putin on October 20, Kommersant reports. The total costs of building the Zvezda shipyard along with related metallurgical facilities amount to around 250 billion rubles, Sechin said. It is proposed that these funds be allocated to developing the Tomtor rare earth metals deposit, which Rosneftegaz plans to manage.
The Tomtor niobium and rare earth metals deposit was previously owned by a joint venture between Alexander Nesis's IST Group and Rostec, but the state corporation left the project in 2019. IST Group managers Vladislav Resin and Alexei Aleshin currently own ThreeArc Mining, the deposit's operator, via the company DDS. A minority stake of 9.09% was previously held by Polymetal , but the company no longer owns this asset and announced in 2023 that the project had been suspended indefinitely.
An initial assessment of the Tomtor deposit's Buran section estimated reserves at 11.4 million tonnes of ore, which contain 0.7 million tonnes of niobium oxide and 1.7 million tonnes of rare earth oxides, Polymetal said in 2021. Tomtor is the world's largest niobium and rare earth metals deposit, with the highest global concentrations, the company's website said.
The deal under discussion does not hinder USC's plans to build its own shipyard in the Russian Far East, the corporation said.
USC was founded in 2007 in accordance with the presidential decree, and 100% of its shares are federally owned. It has been under VTB Bank's trust management since August 2023.
A consortium of JSC Rosneftegaz, PJSC Rosneft and Gazprombank are founding the Zvezda shipyard based on Far Eastern Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Center (FESRCC). Rosneft is providing the pilot load for the complex with an order for 28 vessels. The shipyard's portfolio currently includes over 60 vessels, including nuclear icebreakers of the Lider project, new-generation tankers, Arctic shuttles, gas carriers, and multifunctional supply vessels.
The Rosneft website indicates that, "Construction began on the Zvezda shipyard in the city of Bolshoi Kamen in the Primorsk Territory upon the instructions of the Russian president in 2009. Zvezda has now reached the design level and has all the necessary modern technologies to construct large-tonnage civilian vessels. Zvezda is Russia's most modern shipyard today, specializing in building all types of large-tonnage civilian vessels, icebreakers, and marine equipment. In total, twelve vessels have already been launched at the shipyard, and more than 20 more vessels are actively under construction out of more than 60 in the company's order book. The total deadweight of orders exceeds 3 million tonnes."