Train traffic to St Petersburg back to schedule.

MOSCOW, November 30 (Itar-Tass) -- The train traffic to St. Petersburg
partially disrupted by the Nevsky Express disaster was restored under the
normal schedule.

The train traffic on the Aleshinka-Uglovka section of the Oktyabrskaya
Railway was disrupted completely from Friday evening to 18.00 Moscow time
on Saturday. The railway workers managed to resume traffic on one line on
Saturday, and the traffic on the second railway line was restored on
Sunday morning.
"We had to set the trains on the bypass routes, schedule delays
reached eight hours in some cases," a source in the Russian Railways
Company (RZD) told Itar-Tass. Over 60 trains carrying about 27,000 people
were set on the bypass routes. "Each passenger received additional food
and water supplies from the railway services," the source said. All people
who had to travel on the bypass routes understood a difficult current
situation, the source said. "By now all trains have been put on the
regular routes and are running exactly under the schedule," the RZD source
said.
The Nevsky Express train crashed on Friday evening in the Tver region.
The terrorist act caused the crash. According to the Emergency Situations
Ministry, the train blast killed 25 people and 92 people were hospitalized
with various injuries. Six people remain on the missing list.

.Russia, Iran to agree on candidacy for GECF chief.

TEHRAN, November 30 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia and Iran intend to formulate
a common position on a candidacy for secretary general of the Gas
Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko
told reporters after the bilateral meetings under the Russian-Iranian
intergovernmental commission here on Sunday.
"We agreed that it is necessary to hold additional consultations on
this issue and to formulate a coordinated position," he said.
Shmatko elaborated that the GECF secretary general is to be elected by
consensus. If the GECF states do not vote unanimously for a concrete
candidacy, a candidate from the first country in the GECF alphabetical
list, that is to say Algeria, will head the organization. "It is up to our
interests to coordinate our positions sooner, though it is highly probable
that a GEFC country can vote against the candidate," he acknowledged.
Shmatko elaborated that six GEFC countries nominated their candidates for
GEFC secretary general. "The ministers of the gas exporting countries will
meet to discuss this issue," he added.
Alongside, the Russian energy minister admitted that "Iran has a good
position" on this issue. "We had a substantiated discussion on the current
situation around the elections," he pointed out.

.Construction of Bushehr nuclear plant under schedule.

TEHRAN, November 30 (Itar-Tass) -- The construction of the Bushehr
nuclear power plant by Russian specialists in Iran is going on under the
schedule. "We are doing our best to finalize this project," Russian Energy
Minister Sergei Shmatko told reporters after the bilateral meetings under
the Russian-Iranian intergovernmental commission here on Sunday. Shmatko
co-chairs the commission from Russia.
"The nuclear power plant is built completely, the plant's systems are
undergoing necessary tests under all IAEA requirements," he noted.
Shmatko reaffirmed that Russia and Iran "have no disagreements on the
construction schedule of the nuclear power plant." "The tests are
proceeding surprisingly well taking into account a long story of the
Bushehr project, everything is under the schedule," the Russian minister
added. Thus, Shmatko noted that the construction stage was complete;
everything is ready for all tests and further start-up.

.Russia's SIBUR intends to build petrochemical plants in Iran.

TEHRAN, November 30 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia's largest petrochemical
holding SIBUR is negotiating with the Iranian National Petrochemical
Company the construction of major petrochemical plants in the country,
Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko told reporters after the bilateral
meetings under the Russian-Iranian intergovernmental commission here on
Sunday.
"It is possible to develop major complexes in the oil and gas chemical
industry on the base of oil and gas resources here," he noted. Alongside,
Shmatko emphasized that, first of all, for this purpose it is possible to
involve the blocks of the Southern Pars gas field, which the Russian gas
major Gazprom is developing.
For his part, SIBUR President Dmitry Konov indicated that his company
"had been negotiating with the Iranian National Petrochemical Company this
issue for about a year." According to him, the bilateral cooperation
resulted in establishing a joint venture, which will build a petrochemical
plant producing bulk polyolefin on the base of a phase of the Southern
Pars gas field. Konov also did not rule out further export of this plant's
produce.
-0-baz