At a meeting with the governor of the Astrakhan Region, Aleksandr Jilkin, issues were discussed of the socio-political and economic situation in the region, the process of forming the regional budget, and also issues of restricting powers between the region and municipal authorities.
The governor reported that the issue was being developed together with Gazprom of building enterprises in the Region for deep gas processing. Other Caspian nations have already shown an interest in this project, in particular Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Furthermore, in two years LUKOIL will begin to main oil and accompanying gas in the Russian section of the Caspian shelf.
President Vladimir Putin then held telephone conversations with the head of Gazprom, Aleksei Miller, the head of LUKOIL,Vagit Alekperov, and Transport Minister Igor’ Levitin.
Possibilities were discussed in detail for developing the port and transport infrastructure of Astrakhan and the Astrakhan Region, investment projects which are being prepared for realisation, and also issues of the capacity of shipbuilding facilities of the Astrakhan Region.
Mr Putin also visited the Astrakhan shipbuilding factory Krasnye Barrikady, where the Ispolin hoisting crane was built for working on the Kurmangazy oil field.