Investors in big projects in Russia's Far East to be able to sign electricity contracts for period of more than 20 years
MOSCOW. Aug 31 (Interfax) - The Russian government has decided to allow investors in large-scale projects in the Far East to sign long-term contracts for electricity and power for a period of more than 20 years.
SIBUR and RusHydro will be able to take advantage of this opportunity within the framework of implementing the Amur Gas Chemical Complex (GCC) project.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin gave relevant agencies - the Energy Ministry, the Far East and Arctic Development Ministry, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), the Economic Development Ministry, and the Justice Ministry - the corresponding instruction on introducing amendments to the regulations of the wholesale market for electricity and power following his trip to the region. The draft regulations must be submitted to the government by October 13.
This concerns contracts for investors in projects with investments of more than 300 billion rubles and consumption higher than 300 MW.
The Energy Ministry told reporters that the instruction was linked to supplying the Amur GCC with energy, while RusHydro confirmed to Interfax its plans to sign a corresponding long-term contract. SIBUR started implementing this project on August 18. Its budget is estimated at more than 800 billion rubles, SIBUR head Dmitry Konov said earlier. He said that the signing of a contract with RusHydro on energy supply for the manufacture of petrochemical products was "in the works."
The Amur GCC project envisages construction of a complex for production of 2.7 million tonnes of polymers per year, including 2.3 million tonnes of polyethylene and 400,000 tonnes of polypropylene. Its main facilities will included the biggest plant for pyrolysis - the first stage of processing incoming raw materials - in the world.
The complex's construction will be synchronized with Gazprom's Amur Gas Processing Plant (GPP) gradually reaching design capacity. Supplies of ethane and liquefied hydrocarbon gas from the Amur GPP should provide the GCC with the raw materials for further processing to high value added products. The guideline period for completion of construction and start-up activities is 2024-2025.