OREANDA-NEWS. The first Inter-Regional Conference Russia Without Debts was held in Chelyabinsk, with CJSC Uralsevergaz, an affiliate of ITERA Oil and Gas Company, as an official partner.

In the past years, the problem of debts reached enormous scale in Russia. According to organizers of the Conference (Association on Security of Business and the Debt Management in Industry Sub-Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation) the total overdue debt in the economy of Russia was over RUB8 trillion at the year-end of 2012, while the total budget of the country was about RUB12 trillion. This situation considerably reduced the investment attractiveness of the Russian economy and is a direct threat to the economic security of the country.

The housing and communal services are among the main sources of indebtedness in Russia. Most debts within the housing and communal services result from the difference between the tariffs, as well as from high level of corruption inside the branch. The most widespread method of larceny in the housing and communal services is stripping money via dummy companies. According to organizers of the Conference, there are 1.8 million enterprises with signs of one-day firms in Russia today. Two cases are currently investigated in respect of Vodokanal and Yekaterinburgenergo companies in Sverdlovsk Oblast. Those entities are suspected in withdrawal of RUB100 million and RUB300 million respectively.

The problem of indebtedness on the part of the housing and communal services affects primarily suppliers of energy resources. Uralsevergaz is the main supplier of natural gas to Sverdlovsk Oblast. It has to spend a lot of time and money to solve the problem of debt repayment. Nowadays, the gross debt of gas consumers in the Region is in excess of RUB4.7 billion, including that by the housing and communal services of over RUB4 billion (out of that amount, RUB93 million is the debt by Yekaterinburgenergo.)

"ITERA is worried by the growth of debts for gas in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Gennady Skidanov, First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of ITERA Oil and Gas Company, pointed out. The high level of debts for gas limits ITERA's ability to purchase gas for the region and to pay gas transportation fees. In the end of all ends, this will make Uralsevergaz limit supply of gas to debtors in summer time: a considerable part of people living in the region will lack hot water supply."

The Conference decided to develop and implement with the involvement of the Federation Council and the State Duma of the Russian Federation a national program Russia without Debts, able to reduce debts by 30-50%.

In particular, according to organizers of the Conference, the Energy Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation shall consider documents on debts on the part of the housing and communal services on March 13-14.

CJSC Uralsevergaz is a company with shareholdings of ITRERA Oil and Gas Company, LLC, and the Sverdlovsk Oblast Government. The Company is the main supplier of natural gas to the Middle Urals.

ITERA International Group of Companies is a vertically integrated holding company which includes dozens of enterprises and companies in the CIS, Baltic countries, Western Europe, Asia and the USA. Gas is a core business of ITERA since its inception in 1992. ITERA Oil and Gas Company, LLC, is a joint venture of OJSC NK Rosneft with a 51% stake, and ITERA International Group of Companies with a 49% shareholding, one of the largest independent producers and sellers of natural gas in Russia. The Company has been developing its own gas production in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug since 1998. The Company has invested over USD 2 billion in development of the gas industry. Overall, over 250 billion cubic meters of gas was produced in gas fields developed by ITERA. The total volume of gas sold on the market is about 600 billion cubic meters.