The main stakeholders in the gas distribution sector (government, shareholders and consumers) have different interests and goals. The state, as a regulatory body, should find the best regulatory methods in order to achieve the maximum effect of public welfare: direct (pricing) and indirect (price influencing). The use of the “costs plus” method makes it possible to set the lowest possible tariffs for the transportation of natural gas, but it leads to the emergence of a “tariff precedent”, a loss of profits for companies, limited investment in the development of the sector. In order to stimulate the increase in the efficiency of gas distribution organizations, the implementation of the fundamental principle of gas distribution sector regulation is proposed. The use of incentive regulation will help find a balance in setting prices for gas networks in order to cover the costs of companies, increase profitability, stimulate the development of networks and innovations, establish the optimal price for consumers.

The hydrotransport system of Mikhailovsky GOK PJSC used for iron ore processing tailings was studied with the aim of establishing its performance in slurry pipelines with and without polyurethane coatings of their internal surfaces under mass concentration variations of 10 to 70 %, as well as for preparing related recommendations for the enterprise. Theoretical and laboratory studies were completed with the development of a methodology for recalculating the experimental laboratory data for the specific head loss in industrial pipelines. It has been established that the use of internal polyurethane coatings significantly reduces the specific head losses in hydraulic transportation of thickened tailings slurry for iron ore processing tailings. The respective feasibility calculations confirm the economic efficiency of using steel pipes with internal polyurethane coating in hydrotransport slurry pipelines. The calculated specific head losses for the pipelines with a polyurethane coating in the hydraulic transportation of processing tailings slurry with the mass concentration of the solid phase of 6.95 % are almost 1.8 times lower than in steel pipelines without such coating. It is proposed to use the results obtained in the reconstruction of the tailings slurry hydrotransport system at Mikhailovsky GOK PJSC with a conversion to hydraulic transportation of bulk concentration tailings thickened to 35–40 % in slurry pipelines with an internal polyurethane coating, which will ensure energy savings in the hydrotransport process.

The relevance of the research is due to the need to stabilize the composition of the melting products of copper-nickel sulfide raw materials in the Vanyukov furnace. The goal of this research is to identify the most suitable methods for the aggregation of the real time data for the development of a mathematical model for control of the technological process of melting copper-nickel sulfide raw materials in the Vanyukov furnace. Statistical methods of analyzing the historical data of the real technological object and the correlation analysis of process parameters are described. Factors that exert the greatest influence on the main output parameter (copper content in matte) and ensure the physical-chemical transformations are revealed. An approach to the processing of the real time data for the development of a mathematical model for control of the melting process is proposed. The stages of processing the real time information are considered. The adopted methodology for the aggregation of data suitable for the development of a control model for the technological process of melting copper-nickel sulfide raw materials in the Vanyukov furnace allows us to interpret the obtained results for their further practical application.