Rosatom’s head Sergey Kiriyenko signed the order “On organization of works for construction of the Baltic Nuclear Power Plant” in the Kaliningrad region. 49% of the plant will be sold to a private investor. The Russian company is already holding talks with the western companies that are already operating at the Russian energy market. Rosatom offers the financial participation in the project only, therefore the company guarantees the return of investments.

On August, 22 the Russian company Severstal Resources, the mining division of Severstal, announced about the intention to purchase the business of the American company PBS Coals Corporation. PBS that comprises six mines and six coal strip mines is engaged in extraction, processing and sale of coking and steam coal. In the fiscal year ended March, 31, 2008, PBS extracted about 2,4 million tons of coal, as well as 1,5 million tons of coking coal. PBS’s coal supplies total 133,5 million tons, and coal resources – 228,3 million tons.

The Russian company Gazprom plans to invest the record sum of RUR 1 trillion in new projects on gas extraction and transportation. That is the way how the monopoly responds to the Andris Piebalgs’s accusations, the EU Energy Commissioner, of the insufficient financing of this activity area. This news came out when Gazprom’s capitalization was demonstrating the severe fall and resulted in the 1,4-1,6% price rise of the monopoly stocks

The head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) Igor Artemiev kept the promise of issuing Mechel with lenient penalty. The turnover fine for Igor Zyuzin’s company is only 5%, or RUR 790 million rub, and the compulsory price cut is only 15%, when the maximum is 30%. Mechel’s ADR (American depositary receipts) became champions of the growth on the background of the severe market drop.

JSC Russian Railways (RZD) approved establishment of a company specializing in transportation of grain. RZD’s subsidiary – the First Freight Company – becomes a controlling stockholder. And its partner, with 49%, becomes a joint venture of such forwarders as LP Trans and TechnoTrans that earlier have been accused of gaining excess profits from exclusive relations with JSC RZD by the grain market participants.

Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) (its core beneficiary is Vladimir Lisin that controls about 85% stocks) declared about a purchase of the US pipe and tube products manufacturer John Maneely Company (JMC) from a stockholders’ group that lists the private equity fund Carlyle Group and the Zekelman family. The deal sum totals $3,53 billion.

For 1H 2008, NOVATEK’s net income, Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer, has increased by IFRS standards (International Financial Reporting Standards) by 70,2%, to RUR 14,6 billion, as compared to the analogical period of 2007. The company revenue totaled RUR 42,2 billion (+36,8%), the operating revenue – RUR 19,2 billion (+63,5%). Gross operating expenses went up to RUR 22,8 billion (+22,9%)

In 2008 Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC) intends to invest about RUR 3 billion into its core enterprise – Uralelectromed, and this figure exceeds the volume of investments twice as compared to the last year.

In the first half-year 2008 Surgutneftegaz net income grew by 85% by RAS standards (Russian Accounting Standards) as compared to analogical period 2007 and reached RUR 72,7 billion. Some analysts suppose that the company stocks can go up 1,5 times within the nearest months. In 1Q 2008 the company net income totaled RUR 19,5 billion and grew 2,4 times as compared to analogical period last year. In 2Q this index reached RUR 53,2 billion.

Sviaz-Bank net income grew 20 times for last year as compared to 2006. Such growth the bank received due to operations with financial assets and currency mainly, as well as due to their account revaluation. The bank client base has considerably increased after new board chairman – Alla Aleshkina – had come.