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Billionaire Potanin loses $1.5 bln a day after fuel spill at plant in Norilsk

Nevertheless, the head of Norilsk Nickel remains the richest Russian businessman on the Forbes list

MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/. Vladimir Potanin, head and beneficiary of Norilsk Nickel, lost $ 1.5 bln a day on June 4 after the price of the company’s shares dropped following the accident at the Norilsk Thermal Power Plant, according to Forbes Real Time.

As of 5:45 pm Moscow time, Potanin’s fortune was $25 bln.

"With such losses, Vladimir Potanin entered the top three billionaires who got most impoverished in a day. Since the beginning of the day, Chinese businessman Qin Yinlin is the one who lost most (-$ 7.5 bln), while Mark Zuckerberg ranks third (-$926 mln)," according to Forbes.

Nevertheless, head of Norilsk Nickel remains the richest Russian businessman on the Forbes list.

As of 5:45 Moscow time, the shares of Norilsk Nickel on the Moscow Exchange fell 8.18% to 20,038 rubles per share. As of 6:05 pm Moscow time, the shares of Norilsk Nickel are losing 8%, falling to 20,100 rubles per share.

The loss of containment of the diesel fuel tank occurred on the territory of the combined heat and power plant CHPP-3 in Norilsk, Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region, on May 29. A motor vehicle entered the fuel spill then, causing the fire outbreak. More than 210,000 tonnes of fuel were spilled in total.

The Prosecutor General’s Office is supervising the inspection of the site in connection with a spill of oil products. Criminal proceedings have been instituted under Part 1 of Art. 254 (Land Deterioration) and Article 250 (Water Pollution) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The three cases have already been consolidated into a single case.

The power plant CHPP-3 belongs to Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company (NTEC), which is part of the Norilsk Nickel group.