Ayrat Safin: 'We managed to restore product sales volume at pre-crisis level by the end of the year'

Air emissions have decreased by 37% over 5 years

“Hello, we are starting work," Rustam Minnikhanov greeted the deputies and took a seat in the presidium. The anthems of Russia and Tatarstan were played. After that, Aydar Metshin made a report on the activities of the Nizhnekamsk Municipal District over the past five years.

The report began with negative news. In 2020, the mortality rate of the older working-age population increased in the Nizhnekamsk district. The average life expectancy amounted to 75,5 years. Men die 9 years earlier than women, said Metshin.

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed health problems, in particular the lack of modern equipment and medical personnel. Metshin thanked all the medical staff, volunteers and students who were at the forefront of the fight against the dangerous disease. TAIF and Tatneft also provided all possible assistance.

In the city and district, 4,865 people have been vaccinated against coronavirus, 598 received the second component, and 1,800 — on the waiting list.

Metshin noted in his report the positive dynamics in the sports life of the city. 50,7% of Nizhnekamsk residents are engaged in sports, the growth has been 10% over 5 years. The sports infrastructure is being improved. For example, in 2020, the Chulman Arena football arena was opened, and the repair of sports schools built more than 20 years ago was started.

“With the direct participation of TAIF Group, the new football stadium Neftekhimik was opened, and just a few days ago with the support of Nizhnekamskneftekhim and members of the City Council, two hockey courts on the territory of school No. 19 and gymnasium №25 were updated," said the mayor.

The problem of public transport remains acute. The authorities plan to combine shift and city buses into a single network, as well as to build the new tram line Yuzhnaya. For this, it is necessary to be included in the federal programme.

Another painful issue for Nizhnekamsk residents is environment. According to Aydar Metshin, there is a positive trend here. Air emissions have been reduced by 37% since 2016. If in 2016 they were 84,000 tonnes a year, then today — 53,000 tonnes. This is the merit of including the main city-forming enterprise.

“As a result of the large-scale reconstruction of biological treatment facilities and the construction of new collector by Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC, there has been a significant improvement of air quality and wastewater," said the mayor.

According to Metshin, even in difficult economic conditions, enterprises and organisations took an active part in the social life of the city.

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude on behalf of all the Nizhnekamsk residents of the group of companies Tatneft and TAIF for the position, when not only the achievement of production targets is central to their activities, but also social investment investment in various areas and industries that contribute ultimately to improve the quality of life of people, including those working at the enterprises of TAIF Group and Tatneft," the head of the Nizhnekasmk Municipal District addressed the industrialists.

Large-scale projects of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC

Next, the director general of Nizhnekamskneftekhim reported on the results of the work of the city-forming enterprise.

“The year 2020 for the company, as well as for the entire global economy, was a test of strength," Ayrat Safin began his speech. “In the second quarter of last year, the new coronavirus led to a complete lockdown. About 130 tyre factories were halted, and the remaining ones worked with reduced load. This led to a reduction in demand for all types of rubbers and a catastrophic drop in product prices.

According to him, the warehouses were overstocked with rubber, which did not happen on such a scale even in the 1990s. Many large companies introduced a shortened working week during the lockdown period. Nizhnekamskneftekhim could avoid this unpopular measure by keeping workers' wages at the level.

To prevent the spread of infection, the company followed all the recommendations of Rospotrebnadzor.

“As a result, we managed not only to avoid downtime of the main production facilities, but also to restore sales volumes at the level of the pre-crisis period by the end of the year," said the head of the chemical giant.

Despite the crisis, petrochemists continued to implement the large-scale investment programme — the construction of their own CCGT-TPP, the olefin complex and the production of DSSK.

“I would like to note that at the beginning of this year, the first briquette of divinyl-styrene rubber was produced in a test mode at the new DSSK production facility. In the year of the 55th anniversary of Nizhnekamsk, which appeared on the map of the USSR on the instructions of the party and the government for the construction of a plant for the production of petrochemical products and primarily synthetic rubber, its fifth generation has already been released," Safin emphasised.

Divinyl-styrene rubber is an excellent base for creating environmentally friendly, “green” tyres, with improved performance. With the launch of the DSSK plant, Nizhnekamskneftekhim became a manufacturer of the entire line of rubbers involved in the global tyre industry.

Payments to local budget amounted to more than 1,3bn rub

The construction of the olefin complex is well under way. Five hundred and ten units of the main technological equipment were delivered. The works continue on the construction of reinforced concrete and metal structures, the installation of units. The project is implemented with the use of the most modern, environmentally friendly technologies.

“The investments in the development of the company will lead to the creation of new added value, the growth of the economic stability of the enterprise and, as a result, tax deductions to the budgets of all levels," Safin added.

He also noted that more than 2,000 new jobs will be created with a decent level of wages, personal income tax receipts to the city and republican budgets will increase by 15%.

“Despite a catastrophic decline in the company's financial results, in 2020, the payments to the local budget of Nizhnekamskneftekhim Group, as well as contractors working at our facilities, including new investment projects, amounted to more than 1,3 billion rubles, which is 70% of the city budget!” the head of the chemical giant announced impressive figures.

The average salary in the company in 2020 was more than 61,000 rubles. Over the past 3 years, it has increased by 18%. In addition, the company's employees are provided with a significant social package, which is 17,5% of the amount of the annual salary fund.

Environmental costs amounted to about 62bn rub over 20 years

Priority is given to the issues of environmental and industrial safety. Over the past year, more than 60 events worth more than 828 million rubles have been implemented. These are the commissioning of the new 15-kilometre collector of industrial wastewater, the reconstruction of cooling towers, the replacement of pumping and technological equipment with sealed ones, the replacement of more than 12,000 metres of water pipelines and sewer networks, the development of a water consumption accounting system.

In 2020, the implementation of the fourth environmental programme was completed.

“I would like to draw your attention to that over the past 20 years Nizhnekamskneftekhim has reduced its air emissions by 60% due to the implementation of a set of measures and the decommissioning of old production facilities," said the director general of Nizhnekamskneftekhim.

He also reminded that according to the results of the All-Russian competition “Leader of Environmental Activities in Russia 2020", Nizhnekamskneftekhim became the winner in two categories at once: “For Environmental Responsibility” and “The Best Environmentally Responsible City-Forming Enterprise”.

Safin announced the launch of the fifth environmental programme. It will solve the tasks of improving the environmental efficiency and the anti-accidental stability of production, the development of environmental protection facilities, and the creation of comfortable living conditions for residents of the Nizhnekamsk and Tukayevsky municipal districts.

34 million allocated to support hospitals

Ayrat Safin noted that at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, when there was a shortage of protective equipment, the company was the first in the republic to launch a line for the production of protective masks with a capacity of more than 2 million pieces a month.

“Own production of masks and antiseptics allowed for providing means of protection not only to all employees of TAIF Group, but also on a free basis — medical, social, public and sports institutions of the republic, paying special attention to the needs of the Nizhnekamsk central district hospital," he said.

Besides, Nizhnekamskneftekhim promptly increased the production of oxygen and organised its delivery to medical institutions. It allocated car crews for delivery of district doctors to the sick on a house call. For medical workers who save lives in the “red zone”, accommodation and meals were organised on the basis of the children's camp Yunost.

“Equipment, devices, protective suits and masks worth more than 34 million rubles were purchased and transferred to hospitals in Nizhnekamsk. A year earlier, equipment and materials worth more than 127 million rubles were purchased for medical institutions of the republic," said the director general of Nizhnekamskneftekhim.

In the year of the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and the 100th anniversary of the TASSR, there were opened the Museum of Military Glory of the search team Neftekhimik, a sports shooting range, the new office of the Council of Veterans of War and Labour of the Enterprise, and after an extensive renovation — the Neftekhimik stadium by the standards of the Russian Football Union.

Concluding his speech, the head of the petrochemical company stressed that the petrochemists have coped with the task, emerging from the crisis with minimal losses.

“The company's staff has been retained, the capacity utilisation has returned to pre-crisis levels, and the status and position of the leading petrochemical company have been preserved. We have not lost the pace of construction of our new investment development projects and have not committed any violations of our credit obligations. Timely implementation of the long-term development plans will further strengthen the position of creating a solid foundation for the further development and prosperity of the city and enhance the quality of life of residents and all citizens of the republic, concluded Ayrat Safin to the applause of the members.

The mayor of Nizhnekamsk, Aydar Metshin, thanked the director general and the entire team of Nizhnekamskneftekhim for their work and contribution to the economic development of the district.

“The investments you make in the development of the company will affect the social climate of the entire region. The vector that was created by the first builders, those who built the petrochemical giant — our flagship of the petrochemical industry, the conditions announced in the report should be continued," the mayor said.

“Oil refining, further processing — this is our economy”

Summing up, Rustam Minnikhanov said:

“It was a difficult year, the doctors held the line. I want to address the heads of industrial enterprises, they have not stopped their work for a single day. Nizhnekamskneftekhim, TAIF-NK, TANECO, Tyre Plant, energy sector — all were challenged. We didn't even have the basic means of protection. Thanks to TAIF, Nizhnekamskneftekhim, and Polymatiz for launching the production of masks. There was nothing, nothing! Treated as they could! Today we know how, the professionalism is high.

The head of the Republic of Tatarstan reminded that the republic received 4 billion rubles for social payments for medical workers. The support was provided to small and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises.

“For all the time of my work, there was no such fall. Thanks to federal support, we have implemented all the programmes. In general, the results of 2019 and 2020 are the same. Most importantly, we have serious demographic problems. Planned aid is being restored, and we have seriously fallen to the level of 2003. We were the leaders in Russia, the coronavirus gave a negative result. In January-February, stabilisation began, but we will not be able to recover quickly.

Minnikhanov expressed his gratitude to all medical personnel, employees of Rospotrebnadzor, law enforcement agencies, judges and industrialists.

“Nizhnekamsk is the second city by product shipment in the Republic of Tatarstan. There are few such centres in Russia. Tatarstan ranks 4th in terms of gross product in the country," the president noted. “Ayrat Foatovich [Director General of Nizhnekamskneftekhim] said that all tyre factories were halted. What are we going to do with this rubber? We were at the factory, we had to organise it. It was a very difficult situation. Nizhnekamskneftekhim is working on the largest project, 2,000 jobs will be created. The EP-600 will produce as much as the company currently produces.

Concluding his speech, Minnikhanov asked to strengthen work in the field of SMEs, attract and motivate new residents of the PSEDA, create resource centres, invite young people, and develop petrochemical universities.

“The point of growth will be here, this is the most promising region, the highest expectations are here and in Almetyevsk. Oil, oil refining, further processing — this is our economy," he concluded.