MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/. Ships worth around 2.5 trillion rubles ($36 bln) are planned to be built at Zvezda shipyard starting from 2016, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Andrey Dutov said on Tuesday.

"The preliminary plan is to build 59 ships and marine facilities worth a total of around 2.5 trillion rubles at Zvezda shipyard starting from 2016," he said.

As TASS reported earlier with reference to Director of equipment and technology localization department and Vice President at Russian oil major Rosneft Konstantin Laptev, the new legislation will oblige oil and gas companies to place orders with Zvezda.

The total capital expenditures for the whole Zvezda project stand at 145.5 bln rubles ($2.1 bln).

Zvezda shipyard is located in the town of Bolshoy Kamen in the south of the Primorye region and specializes in repairing and disposing of de-commissioned nuclear submarines. The shipyard is the biggest in this class in Russia. More than 30 breaches of the state defense order legislation have been exposed at the shipyard in recent years.

Zvezda is primarily focused on Russian oil and gas and shipping companies. The new site is expected to become operational in 2018 and to start producing marine facilities and equipment for exploration, production and transportation of hydrocarbons.