Moscow press review for May 11, 2011
MOSCOW. May 11 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers published on May 11. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.
VEDOMOSTI
Gazprom's exports in May are roughly the same as in winter, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said on Tuesday. The company's shipments to countries outside the CIS grew by 12.4% in the first quarter of 2011 year on year, by 20.5% in April, and by 27.8% in the first ten days of May. "It is safe to say that growth in demand for Gazprom's gas is becoming a steady trend in 2011," Interfax quoted Miller as saying. Experts, however, warn that clients are simply buying fuel to replenish their stocks, and Gazprom itself expects the prices to reach the pre-crisis level by the end of the year. ('Miller Rejoices At Winter')
Boris Dubrovsky will be appointed the general director of the Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), a source close to the company and two of Dubrovsky's acquaintances told Vedomosti. They say this is a choice of the company's principal owner, Viktor Rashnikov. The formal elections will take place at an MMK annual shareholder meeting on May 20. Vitaly Bakhmetyev, the MMK vice president for commerce, has also been nominated for the position. Rashnikov has governed MMK in the past fourteen years and will remain its board chairman to deal with its investments and development strategy, sources close to Rashnikov and a source close to MMK told Vedomosti. ('Rashnikov Makes Choice')
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin decided at a conference in April that benefits on the property tax should be preserved for monopolies, officials from the Finance Ministry and Economic Development Ministry told Vedomosti. Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov declined comments. Railways, trunk pipelines, and power transmission lines are exempted from the property tax. This infrastructure belongs mainly to state-owned companies, including Russian Railways , Gazprom , Transneft , the Federal Grid Company, and the IDGC Holding. The government has decided not to deprive the companies of the privilege, fearing that otherwise the entire national economy would have to pay for it, as the monopolies could increase the tariffs. ('Fearing Tariff')
The European Union intends to cancel preferences on import duties for a lot of developing economies, including Russia, starting 2014, wishing to redistribute the benefits in favor of the neediest nations. The EU believes the system needs a revision, and only the poorest countries should enjoy benefits, says Karel De Gucht, the European commissioner for trade. Russia's exports to the EU have nearly quadrupled in the past ten years to $192.7 billion from $51.3 billion in 2000. Exports of some African countries, on the contrary, are stagnant or are declining, while the wealthiest developing economies, including Russia, Brazil, China, India and Thailand, account for 40% of the preferences, says De Gucht. ('Russia Does Not Need Benefits')
Aeroflot signed a firm contract with Boeing about two months ago for eight long-range B777 planes (two B777-200ER and six B777-300ER) and an option for eight more airliners. Under the option contract, Aeroflot expects two B777-300ER (which can carry from 365 to 451 passengers for 14,690 kilometers) and six B777-200ER (from 301 to 400 passengers, 14,310 kilometers), with the right to convert them into B777-200LR, whose range is up to 17,370 kilometers, or into B777-300ER, a source close to Aeroflot said. The planes are to be shipped in 2013-2017. The catalogue price of the contract is about $2.17 billion. However, just as before, Boeing has offered good discounts to Aeroflot, the Vedomosti source says. ('Cheapest Boeings')
KOMMERSANT
The recent fuel crisis in Russia has prompted the regions to use all possible channels for obtaining extra volumes of fuel, including subsidized shipments of fuels and lubricants for the agricultural sector. Most Russian regions affected by fuel shortages in the spring of 2011 significantly increased the volumes of extra requests for subsidized fuel to over 500,000 tonnes, a figure comparable to the growth in gasoline exports from Russia, which provoked the shortages. The Agriculture Ministry has vowed to "closely control" correspondence between the regions' requests for subsidized fuel and the size of cultivated areas in them: on the one hand, shipments of fuel to the agricultural sector are a priority for oil refineries, and on the other, growth in demand for fuel on the market could prompt a new price hike at filling stations. (Page 6, 'Fuel Crisis Stands On Edge Of Field')
The construction of the Kudepsta thermal power plant to provide electricity for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi will be delegated from TGK-2 to the little-known company Concern Vneshenergosnab. TGK-2 is sure that the problems with the site chosen for construction make it impossible to complete the project on time. However, the new contractor, which has never built power-generating facilities, in addition to guaranteeing timely completion, has also vowed to raise up to 19.5 billion for the project's implementation. (Page 11, 'TGK-2 Knocked Out Of Olympic Race')
Oleg Deripaska's En+ has become the official owner of a 27% stake in the Vanino Commercial Seaport. An offshore company close to the group has transferred the shares to itself in the run-up to the privatization of the other 73% of the seaport's shares belonging to the state. En+ is mulling over their purchase, especially considering that the market players view the starting price for the stake - 1 billion rubles - as "low." (Page 11, 'Oleg Deripaska Recalls Vanino Port')