In 2011, Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) delivered 461,000 tons of metal goods to Russia-based car manufacturers, which was 13.5% more than a year earlier (406,000 tons). All in all, the share of goods the company ships to the automobile industry enterprises rose from 6.4% in 2010 to 7% in 2011, MMK reports. The company’s key car-making customers are AvtoVAZ, KamAZ, and GAZ Group. One of MMK’s current strategic goals is turning the company into the leading metal goods supplier for the Russian automobile industry. To achieve this, the enterprise is about to launch the modern

Sverdlovsk Region-based Reftinskaya power station (the asset of Enel OGK-5) reduced its atmospheric emissions by 21.4% in 2011 compared with 2010 due to decreased electric power output, less heavy use of coal, and the need to stop power-generating unit 5 for reconstruction. The emissions of Gazprom’s Gazprom Transgaz Yugorsk went down by 15.3% due to cutting back on the amount of scheduled preventive repairs of pipeline sections and therefore reduced methane emissions; Rezhnickel’s atmospheric emissions declined by 14.6% because the company’s production output shrank and the plant stopped

‘Our jet fuel price must correspond with the market reality. We have no intention of either dumping or overpricing, we are forbidden to do so by the antimonopoly legislation,’ says Koltsovo Filling Station’s Director-General Andrei Gigovsky. The completion of TNK-BP’s acquisition of Koltsovo Filling Station, the jet fuel storage and filling operator at Yekaterinburg’s airport, was announced on March 11, 2012. Now Koltsovo Airport is considered to be one of Russia’s most expensive airports to fill one’s planes in. The legitimacy of jet fuel prices the airport offers has been repeatedly

In 2011, Enel OGK-5’s enterprises dumped 313,000 tons of pollutants in the air, which amounted to 28.4% of all the emissions in Sverdlovsk Region last year. This was the largest figure among Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises in 2011. These data are available from the state report on the environmental situation in Sverdlovsk Region in 2011. Enel OGK-5 runs Sredneuralskaya and Reftinskaya power stations in Sverdlovsk Region.

The enterprises of Enel OGK-5 and Gazprom’s Gazprom Transgaz Yugorsk are responsible for the largest share of harmful atmospheric emissions in Sverdlovsk Region. This information is available from the report on the environmental situation in the region that was elaborated by the Government. The next top polluters on the list are EVRAZ Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Plant, EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works, TGK-9’s Sverdlovsky subsidiary, OGK-1, Svyatogor, OGK-2, A.K. Serov Metallurgical Plant, Siberian-Urals Aluminium Company (SUAL), EVRAZ Vysokogorsky Ore Mining &

Ural Airlines announces a special offer on its Yekaterinburg-Larnaca-Yekaterinburg flights. Round trip tickets are available for 19,000 RUR (including all charges). Flights will be operated every Wednesday starting April 25 and every Wednesday and Sunday starting May 27, the airline’s press service reports. All of Ural Airlines’ flights are operated using the comfortable Airbus A320 planes that have a business class section. Tickets to all destinations are available via the carrier’s official website www.uralairlines.com and in the booking offices.

Yekaterinburg Municipal Bank placed Yekaterinburg Duma Deputy Raphael Shikhov on the list of people who fail to meet their obligations. The founder of a household appliances and electronic goods chain is now featured under Antipartners heading on the bank’s official website. ‘This page offers some limited data on our customers, or, rather, on our ‘anti-partners’, both legal entities and private individuals. They vanished out of our sight without having met their obligations. No damage was done to the bank through these unscrupulous customers’ actions, but they could actually do some tangible

The 64th international industrial exhibition/fair Hannover Messe 2012 will be held in Hanover, Germany on April 23-27, 2012. The first fair was held as early as 1947 and it has always been a meeting point for manufacturers and suppliers of industrial produce as well as a place for sharing experience and for cooperating, for finding investment and for creating new partnerships. The fair offers abundant opportunities for both displaying and buying products and services for any segment of the production chain. Sverdlovsk Region Union of Industrialists & Employers reports the region’s

United Company RUSAL’s Bogoslovsky smelter (BAZ) remains a loss-making business, the enterprise’s Director-General Vladislav Kazachkov said in his interview to Kommersant-Ural. ‘The plant’s losses came to about 180m RUR in 2011. BAZ is unable to compensate its aluminum production losses through the profits the alumina production brings. Sverdlovsk Region is faced with nonsense: BAZ has to pay the electric power price that is twice as high as that in Siberia and one and half times as high as in that in Sweden, where the electric power has always, in fact, been more expensive. In the production

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service allowed OOO Nezavisimost Management to acquire the rights to act as the sole executive body in regard of Ford and Mazda centers in Yekaterinburg. The motor shows in question are located in Bazovy Lane (OOO NEF) and Metallurgov St. (OOO NEP).

Yekaterinburg-based IT companies presented their products at a united Russian stand called Information Technologies in Science, Education, & Business in the course of the international exhibition CeBIT-2012 in Hanover, Sverdlovsk Region IT & Communications Ministry’s press service reports. This major international IT and telecommunication technologies fair was held on March 6-10, 2012. The exhibition is held every year starting from 1986 and is, in fact, one of the most important global events in the field. The united Russian exposition by Russia’s Education & Science Ministry

Sverdlovsk Region-based aluminum manufacturers need to develop and to get upgraded, the region’s Industry Minister Alexander Petrov said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. ‘The state of affairs at RUSAL is complicated for both objective and subjective reasons. The subjective reasons consist in a dramatic metal prices decrease on the global markets. We haven’t got any powerful energy resources in Sverdlovsk Region, yet the prime cost of aluminum production is quite high,’ the minister said. ‘RUSAL’s Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises deal in the export of aluminum ingots, which have only

Rusline, Bashkortostan, and Moskovia turned out to be the least punctual air carriers in February 2012, the Federal Air Transport Agency reports. Rusline delayed 20.86% of the 1,093 flights operated last month, Bashkortostan delayed 19.87% of its flights, and Moskovia delayed 17.09% of its flights. VIM-Avia and Nordwind Airlines were also among the companies that delayed the greatest number of flights compared with other carriers, RBC points out.

MegaFon came up with updates on the most popular mobile devices in February 2012, the mobile carrier’s Ural branch’s press service reports. According to the sales data from the company’s 1,640 own outlets located in 450 Russian cities, among the best-selling devices are: e-modems MegaFon 3G E173 (up to 7.2 Mbit/sec) and MegaFon 3G E352 (up to 14.4 Mbit/sec) as well as MegaFon Minifon TDS-12-1, Nokia X1-01, and Nokia 1616. Samsung S5250, Nokia 5228, Nokia C5 5Mp, Nokia 5230, and Nokia C5-03 proved the chain’s best-selling smartphones in February. In the Urals, the top five most popular

The passenger traffic at Ural Airlines Aviation Company rose by 70% last month compared with February 2011, the company’s press officer reports. In February 2012, Ural Airlines operated 1,516 flights (which was 31% more than a year earlier). This included 484 international flights, 675 domestic flights, and 357 flights around the CIS. 166,463 people flew with the air carrier in February 2012, which was 71% more than in February 2012. 66,353 people used the company’s international flights, 67,400 passengers were on domestic flights, and 32,710 people flew around the CIS. The actual passenger

Secretary-General of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) Vicente G. Loscertales is to arrive in Yekaterinburg next Saturday, March 17, 2012. The municipal council reports the visit has to do with Yekaterinburg applying as a candidate for hosting the World Universal Exhibition EXPO n the year 2020. In the course of his visit, Loscertales is to meet the top officials of Yekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk Region; besides, the agenda of the secretary-general’s stay covers taking a look at the site of the industry & innovations exhibition Innoprom. The primary purpose of Vicente

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) came up with the training plans for its workers, managers, and experts in 2012. Every year, the company issues orders on training MMK employees in various fields selected on the basis of educational needs analysis and applications submitted by the company departments. The training programs involve all of the company’s structural divisions and all employee categories. According to MMK PR Department, a lot of attention is paid to professional training, re-training, and professional development of the company’s workers. The employees get trained and

A group of twenty-two inventors and development engineers at Uravagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation haven’t been receiving any pay for their work since 2009, Genesis Law Office’s press release states. In 2008, the authors of a new invention, a useful make of a tank wagon’s boiler body, signed an agreement with Uralvagonzavod that ensured their remuneration. Under this agreement, payments had to be made every time the useful modification was actually used, every time the make was used in the plant’s production process, and every time the patent was sold or assigned. The

‘We are working on a large-scale upgrade program for Koltsovo Airport’s jet fuel supply system,’ TNK-BP reports. The company announced that its acquisition of Koltsovo Fuel Filling Company, the operator in charge of storing and filling the planes with jet fuel at Yekaterinburg’s international airport, was complete. TNK-BP bought a 100% stake in TZK-Aktiv from Koltsovo Airport and paid $70m for it; the company also bought a 100% shareholding in Koltsovo Fuel Filling Company for $30m. ‘The acquisition was part of our strategy aimed at expanding the range of services we offer and at improving on

Ural Airlines and Emirates signed an agreement that will offer the airlines’ passengers a through check-in option, Ural Airlines’ press service reports. Now the passengers planning to use a connecting flight operated by Emirates to continue their trip can get a single ticket all the way through to their final destination and not worry about the second check-in and luggage drop at Dubai Airport. This will considerably save their time and will make connecting much easier. The service is available to passengers departing from the airports of Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, and Nizhniy