TGK-9 JSC received a possible natural gas supply limitation warning from Gazprom JSC, the company’s spokesperson reports. The supplies haven’t been limited yet, but the company did receive a notification. ‘This is not an emergency since the possibility of such warnings had been included in the contract which says that gas supplies could be limited in case of cold weather. Besides, we have more than enough gas supplies in store,’ the company’s spokesperson said. It was also made clear that even though all this might influence the electricity prime cost (but not its production) the consumers

Ekaterinburgskaya electrosetevaya Kompaniya (Electricity Supplier of Yekaterinburg) JSC has put its networks at full power. Before the weather grew so cold, its load was only 790 megawatt as opposed to current 908 megawatt, the company’s spokesperson reports. The equipment has still been able to withstand the load so far, so there haven’t been any major power cuts. As for local ones, they are being fixed fast enough, and there aren’t any more of them than usual or compared to January 2005.

11 hotels fit for 647 people were introduced in Yekaterinburg in 2005, Hotels of Yekaterinburg Project Coordinator Tatiana Gushchina reported. According to Ms Gushchina, another 6 hotels went through facultative certification, which resulted in Atrium Palace Hotel once again confirming its five-star status, Ural Hotel getting the four stars, and Oktyabrskaya, Hermitage and Taganskya Hotels getting three stars. At the moment, 36 hotels are available in Yekaterinburg, with the average number of clients being three-quarters of their full hosting capacity, Ms Gushchina said. 10 more hotels fit

Within this week, wholesale oil prices have gone up by 5% to 6%. According to data presented by Ural Oil Company (TNK JSC), AI-80 petrol prices have experienced the greatest increase. ‘The company isn’t expecting to have the retail prices go up since the wholesale ones are still growing,’ the spokesperson for Combustive-Lubricating Supplies Sales Department of Ural Oil Company says. The company managers say that this increase in prices is due to shortages on the home market and more petrol being used in cold weather.

NTMK JSC (Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil) generates 50% of its electricity and buys the other half from Sverdlovenergosbyt JSC while fully providing for the heating on one’s own. The arrival of cold weather caused more heat to be produced for internal use as well as for sale as the company’s power station provides electricity for about 30% of Nizhniy Tagil residents. The terms of the contract state that the company’s power station provide their consumers with 200 gigacalories per hour, but now it has to increase this amount to 350 to 360 gigacalories per hour because of the

‘The U.S. Embassy in Russia issued 80,000 visas in 2005, 10,000 having been issued in Yekaterinburg. This can be seen as a slight lagging compared to Saint Petersburg where 15,000 to 20,000 visas were issued. However, the Embassy is hoping to reach the point of 12,500 visas in 2006, which is going to be an unprecedented number for Yekaterinburg,’ Consul General of Moscow Embassy James D. Pettit announced at the press conference on January 18, 2006. ‘We’ve had a lot fewer rejections lately; thus, refusals made up 25% of all visa applications 2.5 years ago but only 17% in 2005,’ Mr Pettit said.

Chelyabenergo JSC is taking extra steps to make sure their electricity networks can still function properly despite the cold weather. According to the company’s spokesperson, the staff have double checked the equipment, particularly the oil-filled items, some of which required extra filling, and are now keeping a close eye on everything. The tanks, driving gears and control cabinets have been checked as well, extra supplies and spare parts have also been provided for. The emergency teams and facilities are available at any moment. All of the company’s divisions are working non-stop to ensure

Ufaleinickel OJSC Board of Directors approved of signing a loan agreement with Commercial Joint-Stock Bank of Moscow OJSC. The loan comprises $15 million and is to be paid off within 1.5 years. Ufaleinickel OJSC proffered to consider its realty and right to part of the company’s profits a guarantee of its meeting the contract liabilities. The transaction makes up 35.47% of the company’s assets.

‘We are not going to do any open-air construction while the weather is so enormously cold. The only thing the company can do is interior decoration in rooms where heating is installed or the temperature is at least 15 below,’ the spokesperson for local construction company Atomstroycomplex CJSC Natalia Basmanova reports. ‘We are currently planning to resume open-air operations when it’s 25 below or up,’ Ms Basmanova says. ‘As for the inevitable setbacks, they will be made up for in February when the company is going to have a three-shift operating regime.’

‘The year 2005 set a new price-soaring record in the field of rented real estate in Yekaterinburg. This is especially true for sections of office space and trade centers,’ Member of Ural Chamber of Real Estate Board and Managing Shareholder of BK-Nedvizhimost PLC Pavel Kusnetsov announced at today’s press conference. According to Mr Kusnetsov, most of the renting contracts concerning trade center sectors stated the price as $60 to $100 per square meter monthly, and contracts concerning office space had it as $25 to $35 in old buildings and $30 to $45 in newly constructed customized office

As the Construction Manager of Nash Dom CJSC Andrey Armyaninov said to UrBC representative commenting on Minister of Construction and Communal Services Alexander Karlov’s remark, ‘It’s hard to say whether there really is a lack of skilled workers among Russian citizens as Mr Karlov believes since our company employs contracting agencies. Still, what we do know is that on the whole, the building business really needs more qualified workforce at the moment.’

Despite bitterly cold weather, no breakups are observed in the way Uralmashzavod is operating. ‘Even now all of our mains are properly functioning though we do have to use up more resources, particularly hot water coming from Sverdlovsk Thermoelectric Power Station,’ the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. The cold weather also makes it necessary to put gas infrared radiators in mechanoerecting production and gas heated air handling plants in welding engineering in full operation. ‘The water in the radiators is about 80 to 83 degrees at the moment, and the system is working

On average, dwellings cost $1,054 per square meter in December 2005, reported Ural Chamber of Real Estate Analitical Department The prices vary from $1,230 downtown and $1,138 in the southern district near the bus terminal to $1,108 in the southwest area of Yugo-Zapadniy to $1,119 in the western area of VIZ and $1,183 in Parkoviy district, and to $1,156 in Botanika (to the south of the city), $1,083 in Zarechniy area, $1,107 in Vtuzgorodok (to the east of the city), $1,125 in Shartashskiy Market area, $1,098 in ZHBI area, $1,098 in Pionerskiy District, $1,017 in Siniye Kamni, $977 in Uralmash

Since the arrival of freezing weather, electricity use has gone up by 10%, Ekaterinburgskaya electrosetevaya Kompaniya (Electricity Supplier of Yekaterinburg) JSC reports. ‘There are some local power cuts within 0.4 kilowatt network due to more heaters being used by consumers. Some areas find themselves cut off because of the overloaded networks,’ the company’s spokesperson says. For instance, Rzhevskiy area was cut off at 7 PM yesterday, Shaumyan, Volgogradskaya and Voenniy Flot streets were cut off at 10.35 PM. The company was unable to fix the problem at nighttime, but the emergency team

Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration disclaimed petition submitted by VSMPO-Avisma Corporation on January 17, 2006. The petition contained a request to call off the protective measures employed because of Lamane Trading Corporation (member of Renova Group) lawsuit. These measures included seizure of 73.4% of the company’s shares. Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration is going to consider the identical case of Troika-Dialog on January 19, 2006.

‘I believe construction specialists should be Russian citizens and not immigrants,’ says Real Estate Managing Director of Mayak Corporation PLC Marina Konkova. ‘We should first of all think of young qualified staff, so it is essential that vocational education systems be restored and improved,’ Ms Konkova said. ‘We are experiencing a lack of skilled workers, and, should a student have a position with us, he or she may soon become a team-leader or foreman, which will let us have young professionals within staff in the course of 2 or 3 years. We are also willing to employ immigrants, but they

As the spokesperson for EuroCement Group reports, Nevyanskiy cementnik JSC (part of EuroCement Group) assessed its achievements for 2005: their output comprised 1.09 million tons, which is rather close to the previous year’s level. The plant’s productive capacity comes to 1.1 million tons, and this very amount of cement was produced in 2004.

According to the spokesperson for Wimm-Bill-Dann JSC, the company is not considering buying any dairies in Sverdlovsk Region. ‘We are interested in the region, but we haven’t bought any milk plants so far,’ the spokesperson says. Moreover, the report of company representatives meeting Sverdlovsk Region Governor Eduard Rossel on January 19, 2006 was not confirmed. ‘The meeting might actually take place, but it’s not likely to become much more than a small talk,’ the company’s spokesperson reports.

On January 17, 2006 Heineken group in Russia announced Viktor Pronin dismissed from the position of Patra JSC General Director following his leaving for a new job position. As from January 17, 2006 the position of Patra JSC (acquired by Heineken in May 2005) General Director will be handed over to Andrey A. Fedorchuk. Prior to this appointment, Mr Fedorchuk took up different posts in Zolotoy Ural JSC (Chelyabinsk). Between July 2004 and January 2006, he held a position of Chief Engineer at one of Chelyabinsk factories.

During its meeting in Moscow on January 14, 2006 Mechel JSC Board of directors came up with the decision to prolong the term of the company’s GD Vladimir Yorikh for one more year. Mr Yorikh has been holding this post since January 2004.