The State Arktikugol Trust amid restrictions on coal supplies to the EU countries plans to establish fuel exports to other countries. In particular, the enterprise is considering selling coal to Turkey, Morocco and Egypt, Ildar Neverov, acting general director of GT Arktikugol FSUE, told TASS.
"We have our own deep-water berth, we are considering other markets such as Turkey, in particular. There have been no sales so far this year, we hope to develop new logistics routes. There's the Moroccan market, there's the Egyptian market. There is China and India, but of course these are long distances, it is not always profitable. But we are actively working, I am sure we will find a solution," Ildar Neverov told the agency.
The company expects to completely restructure its sales policy by the end of this year, so that the Trust will be able to start shipping coal for export in the next navigation season, the acting director general noted.
At the end of June this year due to sanctions there were also problems with the delivery of Russian carriers of goods necessary to ensure the activities of Arktikugol on Spitsbergen. According to Ildar Neverov, now in cooperation with the Norwegian colleagues compromise logistic solutions have been worked out and there are no more problems with receiving goods on the archipelago.
"In terms of supplies, Norwegian carriers are now working, who enter the territory of the Russian Federation, load in Murmansk, pass customs clearance, and depart back unhindered. We buy some equipment and foodstuffs in Europe and we have no restrictions here. I do not see any acuteness, everything is going quite well", said Ildar Neverov.
According to him, the trust annually produces and sells about 120 thousand tons of coal on Spitsbergen.
Restrictions on coal imports to the EU
At the beginning of April the ambassadors of the European Union approved the fifth package of sanctions against Russia, which, in particular, includes restrictions against individuals and financial institutions and an embargo on coal imports from Russia and supplies of high-tech products. In particular, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Germany should make full use of the four-month transition period of phase-out of coal imports from Russia. The ministry of foreign trade of Great Britain announced a ban on the import of Russian coal from August 10 this July.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Petr Kratochvil/CC0
Based on materials from TASS