OREANDA-NEWS. February 14, 2011. For the first time in the history of Russian business practices, TNK-BP and INTER RAO UES signed long-term contracts for gas supplies to the Nizhnevartovsk Power Plant (GRES) (part of the INTER RAO UES Group) and sale-purchase of electricity and/or capacity for 18 years, reported the press-centre of TNK-BP.

The contracts provide for stable supplies of gas volumes in line with the Nizhnevartovsk GRES long-term development program and guaranteed sales for TNK-BP, as well as create a predictable electricity sale market for the Power Plant.

In addition to the long terms, other unique features of the contracts include a contractual structure that contains both Russian and English law, and special conditions that give maximum efficiency to INTER RAO UES and TNK-BP.

The lean dry gas supply contract under take-or-reserve terms gives the Nizhnevartovsk GRES a certain range within which changes in the contractual gas volumes can be made by notification without prior agreement with TNK-BP.

Under the electricity and/or capacity sale-purchase contract, TNK-BP is entitled to reserve free and available volumes of electricity and/or capacity with the CJSC Nizhnevartovskaya GRES on market terms.

“The signed contracts conform to the INTER RAO UES development strategy aimed in particular at diversifying fuel supplies to the company’s power plants and boosting electricity production. Stability of the INTER RAO UES business depends on those goals,” said Boris Kovalchuk, Chairman of the JSC INTER RAO UES Management Board. “Together with our partners we have assured that the Nizhnevartovsk GRES will grow efficiently and build new power generating units on time. This is how we will remove shortages of electricity in the largest oil production region in the country - the Nizhnevartovsk district of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area.”

“Long-term gas and electricity supply contracts open a new phase in the evolution of the mutually profitable partnership between TNK-BP and INTER RAO UES,” said Maxim Barskiy, Deputy Chairman of the TNK-BP Management Board. “This agreement is unique for the Russian market and it allows TNK-BP to utilize up to 6 billion m3 of associated gas annually from fields in the Nizhnevartovsk region and significantly improve the efficiency of electricity supply to the Company’s industrial facilities.”