At the operational meeting, Governor Andrey Chibis summed up the work of the Murmansk Region delegation within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
"I want to start with the most important thing – the region will be gasified. We have signed an agreement with Gazprom and Alexey Miller. I congratulate everyone on this truly historic decision, the regional government team worked hard on it and received the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called this project strategically important for the whole country," the head of the region stressed.
The governor explained that for the boiler houses of the Murmansk region there is an opportunity to get away from expensive and non-ecological fuel oil, which is now heated by cities and towns.
"Our enterprises have already announced the creation of new production facilities and plants that will appear thanks to gasification. According to preliminary estimates, this will give more than 20 thousand new jobs and 400 billion rubles of investment. Now colleagues from Gazprom continue to design the gas pipeline. After all calculations are completed, the final cost and clear deadlines for the implementation of the gasification program for our region will become known," Andrei Chibis said.
In addition, an agreement was signed with Gazprom Helium Service aimed at developing an integrated infrastructure for the production, storage, transportation and consumption of liquefied natural gas in the Murmansk Region, as well as with TGC-1 on the prospective transfer of Apatitskaya CHP and heat supply sources of Murmansk CHP to gas consumption.
"All these are comprehensive agreements with Gazprom companies for the implementation of measures that will be required for the Murmansk Region to cease to be fuel oil dependent and switch to gas," Andrei Chibis said.
In total, within the framework of the SPIEF, the delegation of the regional government headed by the governor signed about 20 agreements concerning the development of the Kola Arctic.
The head of the region identified the key ones. Thus, two lithium deposits will be developed in the Murmansk Region at once, an agreement has been signed with the companies Polar Lithium and Arctic Lithium.
"This will create the first domestic production of lithium-containing raw materials, which will play an important role in providing strategically necessary materials to advanced enterprises in Russia, will entail the construction of a mining and processing plant and a contribution to the social infrastructure of the Lovozersky district. We can say that these two lithium deposits are a real growth point for the district, the region and Russia," the governor stressed.
In addition, an agreement on socio-economic partnership has been signed with LUKOIL until 2028. The document includes commitments on the development of production for the growth of the budget of the Murmansk region, and the attentive attitude of the enterprise to the ecology of the region, and the employment of students of the Kola Arctic. The regional government, together with the company's management, began discussing specific social activities that LUKOIL could finance.
"We have also signed an agreement with SAFFARM, which plans to create an innovative pharmaceutical production in Murmansk. Its enterprises are actively operating in India and produce, among other things, antibiotics, vitamins and dietary supplements, which are then exported to Russia. We are interested in the construction and launch of this important enterprise on a national scale, investments, and the creation of new jobs," Andrei Chibis said.
In conclusion, the Governor thanked the team of the regional government, especially the Ministry of Arctic Development and Economy, as well as the regional development Corporation for the preparation and elaboration of agreements, stressing the need to start their implementation.
/ Ministry of Information Policy of the Murmansk Region /