SK-Plast, Concern Uralelectroremont, and Rubin Sredneuralsky Winery still have no access to electricity, Oblkommunenergo’s PR Department reports. The thunderstorm that broke out last weekend collapsed the power generating facilities in Alapayevsk, Turinsk, Verkhniy Tagil, and Polevskoy. At 8:00 PM on July 15, 23 substations stopped working because of a storm, leaving over 1,500 families, 45 legal entities, and seven public infrastructure buildings (a culture club, a hotel, some water-supplying facilities, a winery, the public baths, and a stadium) without electric power supply. Three

Some falsework plates caught fire at the construction site of Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Plant’s power-generating unit 4, but the fire was put out soon, Rosatom reports. The fire broke out on July 16 at 8:30 AM local time in the building of the unit’s main casing. This was caused by a short circuit failure in the electric cable used for supplying electricity onto the site. The fire was extinguished by the firefighting team of Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Plant’s security personnel. No one was hurt. The construction site of power-generating unit 4 is located within two kilometers to the north of

Ural Airlines keeps on flying increasingly more passengers and freight. Since the start of the year, nearly 1.5m people have flown with this airline, the company’s press service reports. Ural Airlines came up with a production performance report for June 2012. 362,881 passengers used the company’s services last month, which is 30% more than in June 2011. All in all, 1,499,996 people have flown with the air carrier since the beginning of the year. In June 2012, Ural Airlines operated 2,579 flights (23 more than a year earlier), including 1,261 international flights, 830 domestic flights, and

By 2017, the total capacity of Sverdlovsk Region power system could actually reach 4,500 megawatts, the Program for the Development of Sverdlovsk Region’s Energy Complex in 2012-2017 states. This program was presented to the public in the course of a plenary session of the professional energy complex community at the exhibition Innoprom 2012. It was pointed out that the current consolidated capacity of Sverdlovsk Region-based power stations comes to 9,670 megawatts. 97% of energy is produced using imported fuel. In 2001, 46.2bn kilowatt-hours were used and 52bn kilowatt-hours were produced,

The rating agency Moody’s demoted the rating of Bank Uralsib by one level, down to B1. The agency is concerned over the bank’s large-scale investments in housing and commercial estate. The bank said the agency’s actions were quite strict, but promised to sell up to 50% of its real estate within six to nine months, RBC daily reports. Last Friday, when Moody’s looked into Uralsib’s IAS documentation for 2011, the bank’s long-term national and foreign currency deposit ratings were demoted from Ba3 to B1, with Stable rating outlook. Moody’s reports the bank incurred $130.5m worth of net loss

An independent oil company RusPetro Plc applied to Rosnedra, asking to for its license entitling the company to the use of Palyanovsky deposit in Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region for fifty more years, the company reports. The enterprise expects to get the new license in December 2012. RusPetro also explained that it started using the railway for oil transportation in the second quarter of 2012, even though the bulk of its produce is still delivered via Transneft. RusPetro’s railway transportation premium comes to $3.3 per barrel against pipeline delivery, Kommersant Ural reports. The

A subsidiary of Strategic Initiatives Agency was officially opened in Yekaterinburg: this news was announced at the innovations and industry exhibition Innoprom 2012. ‘This is a crucial event for our region and other parts of the country: all the regions will be watching us move along this way. The launch of a permanent representation is an important and a necessary step for us. We expect Vladimir Putin’s imitative on setting up this agency will keep on unfolding,’ said Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev. ‘The agency managed to achieve something over one year. Dmitri Medvedev

On the first day of the International Forum/Exhibition Innoprom 2012, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation and Bombardier signed a number of agreements providing for the setup of a production facility for underground carriages and trams in Russia. The agreement package was signed by Uralvagonzavod Director-General Oleg Sienko, Bombardier Transportation President and Chief Operating Officer André Navarri, and Head of Russian Government Dmitri Medvedev. The agreements are quite unique, as they provide not only for the transfer of modern production technologies to Russia and

Ural Airlines is now offering tickets for its Cologne-Moscow-Cologne flights to be operated through October 25, 2013. Flights will be operated three times a week (on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays). The timetable is arranged so as to make it very convenient for the passengers traveling from various parts of Russia. Ural Airlines operates daily flights to Moscow from Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Novokuznetsk, Irkutsk, Krasnodar, and other cities, so the waiting time for the connecting flight at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport will not exceed four hours, the company’s press officer

Russian Magnesium (with plans to build a magnesium plant near Asbest, Sverdlovsk Region) is now on the verge of bankruptcy, Sverdlovsk Region Vice Premier Alexander Petrov said off the record in the course of exhibition and forum Innoprom 2012, Kommersant refers to Interfax-Ural as reporting. ‘The threat of bankruptcy does exist, and it’s quite real,’ Petrov said. It was reported earlier that Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court decided in June that Uralgipromez’s claim regarding Russian Magnesium’s 51.8m RUR debt should be sustained. The magnesium plant under construction owed the plaintiff

Russian Vice Premier Arkady Dvorkovitch now chairs the committee for the promotion of Yekaterinburg’s EXPO 2020 application, the Governor’s PR Department reports. ‘You appointed Arkady V. Dvorkovitch head of this committee, and this is a great advantage,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev said at a meeting with Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev. He said he was thankful for Medvedev’s giving his personal support to the idea of Yekaterinburg applying for EXPO 2020. “We are already looking for international protection for our campaign. The next presentation is expected to take place in

Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev announced the Ural International Exhibition Innoprom would have a federal status. ‘Innoprom’s industrial bias makes the fair very special, so we’ve decided to give it the federal exhibition status. The thing is, these fairs actually determine the future of our industry,’ Medvedev said in the course of the fair.

Head of Russian Government Dmitri Medvedev promised to support Yekaterinburg it its campaign for the right to host the World Universal Exhibition EXPO 2020. He made this announcement in the course of his visit to Innoprom 2012 exhibition. ‘Another crucial goal is to make Innoprom a good start, make our dream come true and make sure EXPO 2020 is actually held in Yekaterinburg,’ Medvedev said. ‘So we are moving on from Innoprom to EXPO. I hope we’ll win, but a lot of work has to be done to achieve this. In fact, our entire country has to work on it. Undoubtedly, the Russian Government will

The construction of the last ring of Yekaterinburg orbital motorway will start this year, the Governor’s PR Department reports. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev and Chairman of Russian Motorways Public Company Sergey Kelbakh signed a protocol of intentions between the region’s government and the corporation in the course of Innoprom 2012 exhibition on July 12. The protocol is related to the construction of the southern half of the motorway ring. To implement this project, Russian Motorways will set up its first joint daughter company in the region. The last section of the

The public prosecution authorities of Nizhniy Tagil’s Leninsky District investigated the break in the hot water supply in some of the town’s dwellings. Some measures were taken following the inspection. It was detected that on May 16, 2012 Uralsevergaz stopped supplying natural gas to 22 boilers of Tagilenergo because the end users owe them a lot of money; as a result, no hot water is supplied to residential buildings located in Nizhniy Tagil. The prosecution authorities placed a claim with Nizhniy Tagil’s Leninsky District Court, demanding that the actions of Tagilenergo’s officials be

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development now makes precious metals deposits more readily available for private individuals. This service only used to be available in just a few branches in Yekaterinburg, but now one can open such a deposit in any part of the country where the bank’s offices exist, the bank’s press service reports. In fact, such alternative savings instruments are becoming increasingly popular as of late. Banks’ customers are looking for the most profitable way to retain and increase their savings and are now interested not only in the classical deposits but also in

Thanks to the implementation of Development Corporation’s project called Energy Company The Industrial Urals – The Polar Urals, the cost of electricity for the end user dropped down to 5.392 RUR per kilowatt-hour. The company’s DG Sergey Melnichenko says they were able also to increase their production ouptut. ‘New users get connected every day, which increases the station’s general workload and the gross profit is now spread throughout a greater amount of energy produced. As a result, every kilowatt of energy’s prime cost is lower. We improved on the heating networks performance last year

Verkh-Isetsky investigative department of Yekaterinburg’s division of Russia's Investigative Committee in Sverdlovsk Region and the prosecution’s evidence proved sufficient for the court to return a verdict on a 48-year-old Yekaterinburg dweller, the former director of Polymer Pipe Company. The man was found guilty of committing a crime described in Article 199.2 of Russia’s Criminal Code (withholding data on the company’s money that should be used for the payment of taxes). The inquiry team and the court determined that the offender knew his company owed over 23m RUR in taxes but

The rating outlook of the Russian metallurgical group Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK) has been changed to Negative because of a drop in profitability and borrowing characteristics. Its BBB- rating has been confirmed, S&P reports. Standard & Poor's affirmed NLMK's long-term company credit rating at BBB- and a demotion of rating outlook from Stable to Negative on July 10. The company's national scale rating was affirmed at ruAAA.

Experts from Yekaterinburg Electrical Network Company (YESK) are to ensure stable electricity supply at all the events related to Innoprom 2012 exhibition, the company’s press service reports. All the circuits and power facilities at the exhibition sites have been checked, as well as the buildings, the hotels, and places that the officials will visit. The power supply is delivered through Aviator substation and an independent power station located at Innoprom site. What is more, the company's repair teams will offer additional control over the facilities at the fair. So, the company is