Korea to transship Russian coal
KOWEPO might construct a terminal in Primorie
A new large project of the coal terminal with the capacity of 20 mln tons a year has been announced in Primorie. KOWEPO (Korea) wants to be an investor, which has earlier announced of its investment plans into the Russian energy sector. “Rosenginnering” group (Russia) will be its partner. The majority of the rest planned terminals in the Far East will be captive, and the idea of the coal port of “equal access” is supported by the Government of Russia. Analysts doubt KOWEPO will manage to occupy this layer.
Yesterday the press service of the Administration of the Primorie region reported that the first Vice-Governor, S. Sidorov, had held a meeting dedicated to the construction of the coal terminal near the Otkryty Cape, in the closed territorial area Fokino. The CEO of “Port Vera” LLC founded for the projec, E. Diev, told the chairman the capacity of the terminal will be 20 mln tons of coal a year. In the framework of the project the construction of the quay wall, stock house for a simultaneous storage of 1.5 mln tons of coal and infrastructure is planned. The modernization of the 45 km of railway is planned. The area of 800 ha has already been rented for the project. The preliminary negotiations upon the transshipment via the terminal have been held with the coal companies.
KOWEPO (Korea) plans to be the investor in the project, its Russian partner might be “Rosengineering” CJSC. The CEO of KOWEPO,I.Dock Bin, also participated in the meeting with the first Vice-Governor and said the company hopes for the support of the local Government. The press service of Rosengineering confirmed it would participate in the project without giving any details. The company is famous for the construction of ski resorts. Among its consumers are Gazprom sotsinvest and Olimpstroi. The owners of Rosengineering are considered D. Novikov and R. Kikichev. Mr. Novikov, according to Forbes, was one of those who taught the Prime Minister, D. Medvedev, skiing.
KOWEPO is the energy company that holds 13% of the generating capacities of South Korea. It is in the structure of the Korean energy monopoly – Kepco. KOWEPO holds 4 energy complexes with the total capacity of 7.37 GWt inKorea. It realizes the projects in Saudi Arabia, India, Myanmar, Laos, and the USA. It announced the foundation of generating capacities for 200 MWt in Russia–Northern Caucasus.
A source in RZD OJSC said that Fokino is located near Transsib. According to them, there is a railway branch on the territory which was earlier used by the structure of the Ministry of Defense. Evidently when investors speak of the reconstruction of 45 km of railway, they mean it, the interlocutor of Kommersant said. They added that in general the throughput capacity of the railways in the Far East are restricted, the issue of the development of access ways to the existing port is not settled, not to mention the declared projects.
Recently a number of new coal terminals projects have been announced in Primorie and the existing ones plan to expand. But almost all the projects are announced by holdings that have coal assets, i.e. it is about the captive terminals in fact. “Summa” group wants to construct an independent complex at the “Vostochny” port (capacity up to 18 mln tons, mainly for coal). However, the project is not being realized meanwhile.
N. Malysheva from Portnews reminded of the President Putin’s idea to construct a coal port of “equal access” in the Far East, the services of which could be provided to medium and small coal companies. It was about the capacity of 20 mln tons. It is not surprising that the projects aiming for the status of such an independent stevedore appear, but it is doubtful Korea will occupy this layer – it is likely not to agree the project at the level of the Ministry of Transport, and the agreement with RZD is necessary as well, the analysts says. M. Furschik from FOK (the company consults the Government of Primorie on the foundation of the port special economic zone in Vanino) added that the announced capacity it too high. But if the terminal is really constructed, it will be in stages of 5 mln tons, Mr. Furschik thinks. Based on the similar capacity terminal of SDS, the investment volume might be about 18-20 bln roubles.
Meanwhile one of the participants in the market thinks the project would have been possible some time ago but not in the current political situation, and taking into account the conflict KOWEPO was recently engaged in Russia. This company holds 40% of Eurasia Energy Holdings (EEH), in which the rest 50% is controlled by “Resorts of North Caucasus” OJSC, another 10% - CHT, Korea. The plans of EEH on the participation in the management, modernization of MRSK of North Caucasus and its possible privatization in the future became the basis for the critics of the Vice-Prime Minister, A. Dvorkovich (ordered the Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Economic Development to work out this issue).
http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2142617
Translated by Galiya Musabekova
