Tolmachevo Airport secures fuel supplies through JV with Sibneft`

Published: 12/2/1999

According to Alexander Mozzherin, General Director of Tolmachevo Airport,Novosibirsk, a joint venture, in the form of a joint stock company, Airport-Service, has been created between Tolmachevo and oil company Sibneft, in order to stabilise aviation fuel supplies at the airport. Tolmachevo Airport needs a monthly minimum of 30,000 tonnes of aviation fuel. Despite making arrangements to meet the pre-payment requirements imposed by the oil companies, deliveries have still proved erratic in terms of both timing and quantity. Now, an oil pipeline from the Omsk oil refinery to Tolmachevo is underway. The pipeline should help reduce fuel costs, given that it is 30% cheaper to deliver fuel via the pipeline than by rail. Mozzherin claims that the development should also lead to lower ticket prices and a 5-8% increase in airport traffic. Tolmachevo is an international airport with a daily cargo capacity of 200 tons and the capacity to handle 450 passengers per hour for international routes and 600 on domestic routes. In the early 90s, a plan was proposed by Boeing to develop an international airport at a cost of $1.2 billion. It was decided, however, to begin the development with the completion of unfinished facilities. The project was approved in late 1994, but the airport was short of funding and, in 1995, passed the project to another company, AO Transsibavia, that planned to attract investments and complete the construction by 1996. However, without sovereign guarantees, the funds proved difficult to raise. When the Federal authorities, as a result of an election promise by President Yeltsin, proposed a transfer of the state"s 50% stake in the airport to the region, interest in the project was regenerated. The local administration then helped to attract 200m rubles for the construction of the international terminal. The transfer of the shares promised by Yeltsin remained uncompleted for three years and, in a decree on 19th January 1999, he cancelled the proposed transaction and started a tender for sale through the regional property fund. The tender, of two lots of 25.5%, which was held in October 1999, resulted in failure. It appears that Sibir is endeavouring to gain control of the airport and its representatives now sit on the airport"s board, leading to the expectation that it might well buy the Federal authorities" stake, although the region is reported to be still interested in controlling the airport itself (www.concise.org 22nd October 1999).

Article ID: 1162