March 16, 2015. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) shipped a set of hi tech casing pipes to Tatneft, which will use them for producing super-viscous oil at Ashalchinskoye deposit in Tatarstan, TMK’s press service reports. The set included casing pipes with premium threaded joints TMK UP QX. These joints are known for their impressive compression, tension, and flexing strength and meet the CAL4 requirements, which means they can be used in the most complicated oil production conditions. The joints are also unique in that they can be assembled onto a slanting support of a drilling rig. The pipes

March 16, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant’s Executive Director Vladimir Roschupkin met with directors of Nizhniy Tagil schools. ‘Five best schools were awarded with money prizes based on their school/society cooperation efforts in 2014. These are School 9, Gymnasium 86, School 95, Lyceum 51, and School 61. Accepting students for vocational training in jobs that are important for Uralvagonzavod, coordination of job counseling events, introducing schoolchildren to engineering jobs, a focus on precise sciences, and students taking part in Physics contests were all important

March 13, 2015. The number of jobs on Yekaterinburg labor market decreased by nearly a quarter compared with November 2014, findings of a research carried out by E1.Rabota indicate. ‘The number of job openings went down by 17% in December, which could have been related to the end-of-year factors, and rose by 14% as soon as January. However, the figure declined by 18% in February and by 23% against November 2014,’ E1.Rabota says. The transport and automobile sector was the most affected one, as the number of available jobs dropped by 40%; the number of vacancies in the retail trade and

March 13, 2015. Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) had its weldless hot-rolled pipe department upgraded; a new bandsawing machine UMSY 600SP, which cost around 15m RUR, was launched there, ChTPZ Group’s press service reports. The new equipment is meant for cutting solid billets, pipes, and sections (diameter up to 600mm) made of various metals and alloys. The machine’s capacity comes to 100m per minute. This mechanical cutting method comes to replace the flame pipe-cutting one. The use of the latter worsened the quality of metal at the pipe’s ends, so 40mm had to be left at both sides of

March 13, 2015. Lexus LX 570 proved the most frequently stolen car make in Ural Federal District last year: 10% of all the cars that were stolen in 2014 were this make, the Ural division of AlfaStrakhovaniye’s press service says. VAZ Samara, VAZ Priora, and Opel Insignia came next on the list: 6.3%, 5.7%, and 5.4%, respectively, of all the stolen cars pertain to these brands. Put together, Toyota and Lexus made up 30% of all the cars stolen in 2014. The makes most popular with thieves are Toyota Land Cruiser (4.3%), Toyota Land Cruiser Prado (3,6%), Lexus RX (3,1%), and LX (10%). Russian cars

March 13, 2015. Four of Yekaterinburg-based shopping malls are working on the development of new interior and function concepts, head of the city council’s commodities market committee Elena Chernysheva announced at a press conference. According to Chernysheva, these are Megapolis, Globus, Gallery 11, and Park House. ‘There are 34 shopping malls in Yekaterinburg at the moment. A few new ones opened last year, for example, Strelka and Krasnolesye, as well as the fourth extension of Greenwich Mall. Another shopping center, presumably called Maxi Dom, is soon expected to open in the place where

March 13, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s Director-General Oleg Sienko and Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways Javid Gurbanov held talks in Baku. According to the corporation’s press service, the talks were dedicated to the two parties’ cooperation opportunities. For one, the executives agreed on the number and types of freight cars that will be delivered by the Russian company to Azerbaijan Railways. These are gondola cars, covered cars, grain cars, cement carrier cars, platforms, oil tanks, and hoppers. A contract for the delivery of 2,900 units of various makes of freight cars to Azerbaijan

March 12, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation adopted an upgrades and re-equipment program for its head plant. The program will involve the plant’s car assembly, mechanical assembly, metallurgical, and some other departments, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘Uralvagonzavod’s technical and technological upgrades are meant to replace the worn-out facilities as well as to stimulate production development. They will allow the plant to complete its strategic tasks, including breaking into new markets, improving product quality, and much else besides,’ the press service says. This year, the

March 12, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region-based courts processed 291 bribery-related cases in 2014, with verdicts of guilty pronounced on 304 people. A year earlier, 221 cased were processed and 234 people were sentenced, Sverdlovsk Region Court’s press service reports. According to the available statistics, the number of those who had to face liability for bribery-related crimes has been on the rise for four years in a row. 69% of cases (201) have to do with bribe-taking, compared with 62% in 2013. Among those found guilty were five law-enforcement officers, eight officers of the Federal Service for

March 12, 2015. The average price on Yekaterinburg housing market has gone down by 0.3% over the last four weeks: one square meter of a place for sale on the existing homes market now comes to 76,449 RUR, Ural Chamber of Real Estate reports. Prices decreased down to 69,957 RUR per m2 (-0.5%) against early February in the city’s second most expensive area, while those in the third and fourth most expensive districts went up considerably, up to 66,344 RUR and 56,219 RUR per m2, respectively. Prices in downtown Yekaterinburg and in the most expensive districts fluctuated only a little and stayed

March 12, 2105. ChTPZ Group intends to work on new types of pipes for the fuel and energy sector that haven’t been produces in Russia before. The order for the new produce was placed by Gazprom, as the company needs something to replace the foreign pipes. ChTPZ Group and Gazprom representatives met on the premises of Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant to set out the first stages of their cooperation and import replacement projects. ‘Gazprom would like us to develop and offer on the market the pipes that can be used at their deposits as successfully as their foreign counterparts, and this within two

March 12, 2015. Visitors started signing up for the 6th International Industrial Exhibition Innoprom 2015, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department refers to the event coordinator Formica as saying. The Innoprom 2015 Exhibition will be held in Yekaterinburg on July 8-11. For the first time this year, five specialized fairs will be held in machine-building, industrial automation, energy efficiency, optics and lasers, and urban technologies. ‘It is essential to make sure this local event acquires national status. We expect the local budget’s expenses relating to Innoprom to

March 12, 2015. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works and CROC completed a pilot version of a virtual desktop system that enables users to switch from PCs to ‘thin clients’. ‘Desktop virtualization is a computer technology and infrastructure that makes it possible to transfer all of a personal computer’s functions (calculations, company and user data storage, Windows settings and desktops) onto a virtual space on a server. This means that the software becomes independent from the hardware,’ MMK says. ‘Thin clients’ are special desktop terminals whose hardware components are much less

March 11, 2015. A group of delegates from Cuba’s Transport Ministry paid a visit to a number of Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s member enterprises, including ChTZ Uraltrac. According to the corporation’s press service, the visitors were shown one DET 400, a bulldozer with a hoist that can make a part of a recovery train. They also saw the entire range of the plant’s vehicles, from the already historic heavy-duty tractor T800 to the new loaders PK46 and PK65 to Class 10 and 15 bulldozers that could also be used by the Cuban railway services. The delegates were most impressed by TMV2, a car

March 11, 2015. Binbank bought 99.84% of Yekaterinburg-based Uralprivatbank’s shares; the issuer will be able to manage the shareholding starting from March 6, the two banks report. Binbank Board of Directors approved of a merger with Uralprivatbank, so the latter’s branches will now operate under the name of Binbank. The fact that the Moscow bank was going to acquire Uralprivatbank transpired in mid-January. The cost of the transaction has not been announced. As a result, Binbank will now run over ten branches in Sverdlovsk Region.

March 11, 2015. The import of goods from the far abroad into the country amounted to $22.9822bn in the first two months of 2015, which was 36.9% less than a year earlier, the Federal Tax Service reports. In fact, imports dropped by 33.8% in February 2015 alone; the import of food items decreased by 44.3%, that of textile products and footwear by 35.3%, that of machine-building produce by 33.5%, and that of chemical products by 26.3%. As for food imports, dairy products shrank the most, by 5.6 times; the import of fish dropped to a third of last year’s amount, that of sugar by 2.9 times, that

March 11, 2015. Electromachine Scientific & Production Association (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) was issued a license by Chelyabinsk Region Education & Science Ministry; the license means the company is allowed to offer vocational training and issue diplomas. According to the corporation’s press service, the company can now train students in twenty-six blue-collar specializations, including the jobs of an NPC mill operator, a mechanician, a turner, and a miller. ‘We have plenty of experience in the educational field: some 1,000 people undergo professional

March 11, 2015. 1,654 residents of Sverdlovsk Region submitted their declarations to the tax authorities in order to declare the income obtained from letting homes in 2014; in 2013, the figure was 1,498. The said residents paid 18.153m RUR worth of personal income tax last year, Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service’s press office says. ‘Following the tax authorities’ efforts to encourage private individuals to submit their declarations even past the deadline, 339 more people declared their income: this was twice as many as a year earlier,’ says head of the division’s

March 10, 2015. ChTZ Uraltrac (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) is going to add more exhibits to the military vehicles display at Victory Park in Chelyabinsk. According to the corporation’s press service, there are currently sixteen exhibits there, mainly various makes of tanks and SP guns from the war and post-war times. ‘Some of those, for example, ISU152, IS3, and T72, were either designed or made at Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ Uraltrac). The rest (T-34-85, T54, T62, and SU100) were produced elsewhere, yet all of the armored vehicles have ChTZ engines inside. This is

March 10, 2015. 44% of Russian businesses admit their financial situation has deteriorated, says the National Financial Research Agency based on a nation-wide survey. The crisis has affected micro-enterprises the most (they make up 50% of those for whom things went from bad to worse), as well as the companies that were set up before 1999 (46%). Approximately a third (32%) of managers surveyed feel their companies’ financial situation has remained the same, while 19% of respondents think their businesses are better off now than before. The rest of those surveyed said they were not sure.