Russian Railway prepares railway deal with Gazprom

MOSCOW, Jan 26 (PRIME) -- Russian Railways is preparing to sign an agreement on a 230 billion ruble Northern Latitudinal Railway with gas giant Gazprom, Russian Railways Senior Vice President Vadim Mikhailov told reporters on Thursday.

Previously, Russian Railways signed an agreement on the 707-kilometer Northern Latitudinal Railway with the government of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. The railway is to be constructed in 2018–2022, and its transportation capacity will amount to 23.9 million tonnes of cargoes, mainly of gas condensate and oil-tanker ones.

“The agreement with the autonomous district has already been signed. An agreement with Gazprom is being coordinated. All the internal departments of Russian Railways and Gazprom will sign it. It is ready for signing. Our next step is to study the project by an interdepartmental commission on development of the railway transport chaired by (Deputy Prime Minister) Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich,” Mikhailov said.

According to a presentation of Russian Railways, a concession operator is to pay 113 billion rubles, the state monopoly is to pay 105 billion rubles, and a concession grantor, the Federal Railway Transport Agency, is to pay 30 billion rubles. The railroad construction will be done by the state monopoly, a concession operator and Gazprom.

The gas giant is now finishing construction of the Nadym–Pangody part of the railway and will transfer it to a concession operator for a relevant payment. The operator is to build its part using own and borrowed money and will operate the railroad line for 35 years, the presentation read.

(59.1489 rubles – U.S. $1)

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