The neighbors

We Have Come to Stay

Olavi Suomalainen,
Managing Director, Neste St. Petersburg

        We have invested about 200 million dollars into the city and its region's economy. We built 22 petrol stations and recently opened an oil terminal in Lomonosov. Our main purpose is the retail and wholesale of high-quality fuel for cars. More than 330 people work at our three diesel and 19 petrol stations.
        Up to 1998 our company was systematically developing but after the August crisis the situation worsened. Even high-quality goods are not bought if their prices are suddenly increased. Nevertheless we found a way out and completely avoided layoffs. We minimized our production expenses, reduced our sponsor expenses, and, what is most important, we began to use Russian oil products. Today they make up about 60 percent of our company's total sales volume.
        This does not mean that the quality of our products has decreased. Our company is widely known both in Finland and St. Petersburg for its high-quality products and service. We are proud of our recent victory at the competition held in Finland by the popular World of Technology magazine.
        As to our plans for the future, we hope that no more financial crises will occur. Such crises are very harmful for your city and the foreign companies working in it. But Neste's activities in St. Petersburg will not be stopped even in case of acts of God. We have come to the Russian oil market and plan to stay. That means we must constantly develop, regardless of the difficulties.

Interview by Aleksandr Belikov