TASS, April 26. The Norilsk Nickel Company (Nornickel) will invest before 2025 more than 100 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) in upgrade of the tank facilities in the Krasnoyarsk Region’s north, the company said in a release published on Monday.

On Monday, a meeting chaired by Svetlana Radionova, Head of the Natural Resources authority (Rosprirodnadzor), was devoted to Nornickel’s response to the fuel spill that occurred at HPP-3 in Norilsk in 2020 as well as to how the company complies with orders issued by the authority.

"In 2020-2021, Nornickel invested 16 billion rubles ($212.5 million) in tank farms in the Norilsk Industrial District, with plans to increase this amount to more than 100 billion rubles in 2022-2025," the release reads.

According to Nornickel, in 2020-2021, it upgraded significantly the key tank facilities to meet applicable federal standards and regulations and removed tanks that could not meet the requirements. The company’s heads of subsidiaries and Nornickel’s management constantly monitor the efforts to comply with the orders which have not yet been fulfilled. "By upgrading our energy facilities, we have virtually eliminated the risk of oil product spills causing environmental damage. Further on, we will keep working to improve the efficiency and reliability of the Taimyr energy infrastructure," the press service quoted the company’s Head of the Energy Division Evgeny Fyodorov as saying.

Nornickel’s Energy Division comprises four fuel and energy companies — Taimyr Fuel Company, Norilsktransgaz, Norilsk-Taimyr Energy Company (NTEC), and Norilskgazprom.

The fuel spill happened in May, 2020, when a tank unsealed and 20,000 tonnes of fuel flowed out. The Krasnoyarsk Region’s Arbitration Court partially satisfied a claim by Rosprirodnadzor and a fine of 146 billion rubles ($1.9 billion). Nornickel has settled the fine. In summer, 2020, after the accident, reports said the contaminated area was 180,000 square meters.