The Perm Territory is part of the Volga Federal District. It was formed on Dec. 1, 2005, through a referendum on the merger of the Perm Region and the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Area.
The territory is in the eastern part of the East European Plain and on the western slope of the Central and Northern Urals. It borders the Komi Republic, the Kirov Region, Udmurtia, Bashkortostan and the Sverdlovsk Region. Its administrative centre is the city of Perm. Other important cities are Berezniki, Tchaikovsky, Solikamsk, Lysva, and Kungur. According to the Federal Service for State Statistics, the territory's population as of Jan. 1, 2012, was 2.6 million.
The territory is rich in subsoil resources, such as oil, gas, coal, mineral salts, gold, diamonds, chromite ores, limonite, peat, limestone, and precious, ornamental and various other grades of stone.
The Perm Territory’s highly developed industry accounts for 46% of the gross regional product and 50% of the tax revenue.
The major industrial sectors are oil production, chemistry and petrochemistry, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, mechanical engineering, forestry and woodworking.
Oil production has been growing steadily by several hundred thousand tonnes annually over the past few years and is approaching 13 million tonnes per year. The biggest operator is LUKoil-Perm.
The bulk of local chemical production is mineral fertilisers. Verkhnekamskoye, the world’s largest potash deposit, has allowed the Perm Territory to become Russia’s sole potassium fertiliser supplier. The Mineralnye Udobreniya chemical plant in Perm and the Azot plant in Berezniki produce nitrogenous fertilisers.
A socioeconomic development programme for the Perm Territory up to 2016 was adopted in October 2012 and targets the improvement of the population’s standard of living by facilitating the growth of the defence industry, the chemical and oil sectors, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, wood processing, power engineering, IT, research and development.
The territory features a number of monasteries, museums and other historic sites, such as the Stroganov Palace in Usolye, the Belogorsky Monastery (known as the “Athos of the Urals”), and the Perm State Art Gallery.