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Rosneft prepares ground for new Murmansk yard

The poulation of Roslyakovo will soon not be living in a closed military town. Rosneft has from before its "Belokamenka" terminal tanker (visible in picture) stationed outside the local port.

The settlement of Roslyakovo is losing its status as closed military town following the oil company’s ambitious plans for the local shipyard.

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Regional authorities in Murmansk have started a process of changing the status of Roslyakovo from closed military town to industrial zone. A working group with representatives of regional authorities, the city of Severomorsk, the Ministry of Defence and Rosneft has been established to prepare a presidential decree on the issue, Murman.ru reports.

Until now, Roslyakovo has been part of Severomorsk, the closed military town, which hosts the headquarters of the Northern Fleet. The town has about 8000 inhabitants.

As previously reported, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin recently confirmed that Roslyakovo “already in the next few years” will become the Arctic shipbuilding center for the oil company.

The announcement from Rogozin came after Igor Sechin and his Rosneft for some time has pushed for the takeover of the Roslyakovo yard, a shipbuilding facility which over the years has served first of all the Northern Fleet. According to the deputy premier, the deal reached with Roseneft states that the yard in the future is to build both military and civilian vessels.

As previously reported, Rosneft leader Igor Sechin in September last year got the Kremlin`s blessing for the acquisition of four yards, among them the Shipyard No 82 in Roslyakovo.The motivation for the engagement in shipbuilding is the company`s major ambitions in Arctic waters. Over the last years, Rosneft has acquired a significant number of offshore licenses and signed comprehensive Arctic cooperation agreements with foreign companies like ExxonMobil, Eni and Statoil.