Moscow, 17 February 2005. OAO "Kamchatskenergo" provided over 9,000 tonnes of fuel oil to municipal energy utilities in Kamchatskaya Region in connection with the dramatic decrease in fuel inventories suffered by the municipal utilities. On the request of the Kamchatskaya Region Administration, OAO "Kamchatskenergo" is providing up to 350 tonnes of petroleum products from its own reserves to the municipal utilities.

Simultaneously, in order to stabilize fuel supply on the Kamchatka peninsula, RAO "UES of Russia" reached an agreement with Rosreserve to borrow 15,000 tonnes of fuel oil for OAO "Kamchatskenergo".

The fuel deficit in Kamchatskaya Region was further complicated by the fact that, because of the lack of tankers in the port of Nakhodka, the fuel oil purchased by OAO "Kamchatskenergo" and the Kamchatskaya Region Administration was not delivered in time. By now, the energy company has chartered two tankers with carrying capacity of 5,000 and 10,000 tonnes of fuel oil in the port of Nakhodka. The tankers will arrive in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on 28 February 2005. Efforts are taken to charter one more tanker of 15,000 tonnes.

In the next few days, Kamchatskenergo plans to reduce its own fuel oil consumption by 300-400 tonnes daily, after the power supply is restored by the Mutnovskaya Geothermal Power Plant. There was a snow avalanche in early February which damaged the high-voltage line 220 used to transmit electricity generated by this power plant. To substitute the electricity generated by Mutnovskaya GeoPP, OAO "Kamchatskenergo" had to increase generation by the CHPPs in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which resulted in increased fuel oil consumption.