Arctic Yearbook 2015 | Page 39

39 Arctic Yearbook 2015 Storage and distribution costs of major fuels increased by 2 times for coal and by 1.5 times for oil over the four-year period, while the share of coal in the structure of fuels expenditures has increased from 34% in 2011 to 43% in 2014, as the share of oil has not changed (Table 4). According to the data of the Sakha Republic Regional Power Commission, the share of coal itself in the structure of its prime cost for consumers in remote regions composes only 15-20% for the Abyiskiy, Momskiy, Ust-Yanskiy, and Verkhoyanskiy regions, and 37-50% for other Arctic areas - the Zhiganskiy, Nizhnekolymskiy, Srednekolymskiy, and Verkhnekolymskiy regions. In 2014, according to data available from the Regional Economy Commission, State Committee for Price, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the cost of fuel oil including delivery to regions ranges, for coal, from 5 thousand rubles per ton (to the Niznekolymskiy region) to 11 thousand rubles per ton (to the Ust-Yanskiy region), which exceeds world prices by 2-3 times (Figure 3); for oil, from 20,600 rubles per ton (to the Bulunskiy region) to 22,600-23,400 rubles per ton (to the Allaikhovskiy and Nizhnelenskiy regions); and for gas condensate 23,700 rubles per ton (to the Anabarskiy region) to 24,300 rubles per ton (to the Bulunskiy region). The recent large price rises for gas condensate in Yakutia resulted in costs significantly exceeding the cost of oil produced in the republic, leading in 2013 to the Allaikhovskiy region’s refusal of gas condensate deliveries and a transfer to oil. Such transitions, however, usually requiring additional investments into the re-equipm ent and renovation of boilers. Figure 3: Cost of coal in view of transportation and storage in Arctic regions of Yakutia, rubles/ton Source: Data of the Regional Economy Commission, State Committee for Price, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Barakaeva, Batugina & Gavrilov