No. 1, 2006
FACTS AND FIGURES
October 28, 2005: In Moscow, Russia's President Vladimir Putin awarded President of LUKOIL Vagit Alekperov the order “For merits before Fatherland” of 4th Degree, in recognition of his substantial contribution to the progress of the fuel and energy complex of Russia.
November 7, 2005: Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux AG (Interbrand Group) ranked the LUKOIL brand, worth an estimated $688 million, among Russia's five top-value brands.
November 9, 2005: In Moscow, LUKOIL's Managing Board resolved to establish a 100% subsidiary – JSC LLK International – which would be granted control over lubricant production and marketing. The new subsidiary is expected to respond to changes in the market situation more promptly and flexibly, to streamline lubricant production and to enhance marketing efficiency.
November 10, 2005: The “Institutional Investor” magazine (UK) rated LUKOIL's President Vagit Alekperov as the first in Russia's oil & gas business category according to the Institutional Investor international magazine. The poll was performed among analysts and experts of major investment companies of the world.
November 11, 2005: In Moscow, the 5th Conference of LUKOIL's young scientists and specialists was held. In the framework of the conference, competition results for the best research and development project were revealed. 175 participants had submitted their projects, some of which would be made use of in the Company's practical activities. Best results were achieved by young specialists employed at JSC LUKOIL-Perm, JSC LUKOIL-Western Siberia and JSC LUKOIL-Permnefteorgsintez.
November 14, 2005: LUKOIL has completely fulfilled the “Corporate program for reinstatement of the contaminated areas and prevention of accidental oil spills in the Komi Republic in 2000-2005”. The Program focused on elimination of the effects of 1994 oil spills and removal of the “environmental disaster zone” status from a number of the Komi Republic Usinsk region areas.
November 15, 2005: In Moscow, LUKOIL's First Vice-President Ravil Maganov and Yury Vorobyov, First Deputy Minister for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters, signed a cooperation agreement on interaction in providing fire safety, preventing and responding to oil spills emergencies.
November 16, 2005: In Sofia (Republic of Bulgaria), LUKOIL's President Vagit Alekperov attended the new LUKOIL-Bulgaria office inauguration ceremony. Also present at the ceremony were Prime Minister of Bulgaria Sergey Stanishev, RF Ambassador to the Republic of Bulgaria Anatoly Potapov, and other officials. A memorandum on cooperation between LUKOIL and Bulgaria's Ministry for Economics and Energy was signed within the framework of the visit.
November 21, 2005: In Nizhny Novgorod, LUKOIL's President Vagit Alekperov and Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Valery Shantsev signed an agreement on economic and social partnership between the Company and the Government of the Region for the period ending in 2009.
November 22, 2005: LUKOIL signed an agreement with Neste Oil (Finland) on acquisition of 50% of shares of JSC SeverTEK, thus getting ownership of 100% of the company. JSC SeverTEK holds licenses for the development of Yuzhno-Shapkinsky and Pashshorsky oil fields in the Nenets Autonomous Area and Verkhne-Grubeshorsky and Yuzhno-Yuryakhinsky oil fields in the Republic of Komi.
November 22, 2005: In Moscow, Sergey Kukura, First Vice-President of LUKOIL, and Yaroslav Kuzminov, Rector of the State University Higher School of Economics, signed an agreement on cooperation between the Company and the HSE for 2005-2008.
November 23, 2005: In Moscow, LUKOIL's President Vagit Alekperov met Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. The parties discussed the status of and prospects for the Company's activities in Iraq.
November 25, 2005: The trading volume of the LUKOIL securities on the London stock exchange was $4.657 billion in October 2005. It was approximately 27% out of the trading volumes of all foreign companies on the LSE (IOB trading system) that indicates the highest liquidity of the LUKOIL securities.
November 29, 2005: In Moscow, LUKOIL's Board of Directors was held in Moscow to listen to the downstream operations report and to discuss the procedure of securities trading by persons having access to insider information which may materially affect the market value of the Company's securities.
November 30, 2005: In Moscow, LUKOIL was awarded with a diploma by the Council of Federation of the RF Federal Assembly for a vast contribution into strengthening of the national economy. The Company was also awarded with the “Environmental leader of Russia” diploma by the Department for Social Development and Environment Protection of RF Government and the Department for State Environmental Policy of the RF Ministry for Natural Resources. LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov was awarded with the commemorative medal “For environmental achievements”.
December 2, 2005: LUKOIL ranked 9 among the European companies and 16 among the global companies in “2005 Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings”, performed by Platts, U.S. based energy agency. The companies were apprised based on four principals – size of assets, level of income, profit and internal rate of return.
December 5, 2005: JSC Saratovorgsintez completed a certification audit of the industrial and occupational safety and environment protection management systems for their conformity to international standards. The industrial and occupational safety and environment protection management systems are certified to conform to the corresponding requirements of the ISO:14001 Standard and to the OHSAS:18001 specifications.
December 6, 2005: LUKOIL Overseas Holding Ltd. completed the acquisition of the Nelson Resources Limited Company. As its sole owner, LUKOIL has gained full control over the company's assets and projects including the projects to produce hydrocarbons in the Republic of Kazakhstan from the Alibekmola, Kozhasay, Karakuduk, Severniye Buzachi and Arman fields as well as options for the acquisition of two geological prospecting blocks in Kazakhstan's sector of the Caspian – Southern Zhambay and Southern Zaburunye.
December 8, 2005: At the National Press Club (Washington, the USA), LUKOIL's President Vagit Alekperov received, on behalf of LUKOIL, the Golden Galaxy Prize instituted by the American-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
December 9, 2005: In Moscow, an annual ceremony of awarding the Prize, instituted by the Russian Oil and Gas Engineers' Society (ROSING) took place. The winners of the Prize included Ravil Maganov, LUKOIL's First Vice-President.
December 12, 2005: On the Anaran block (the Islamic Republic of Iran), LUKOIL Overseas Holding Ltd. and Norsk Hydro discovered a major oil field consisting of four promising structures – Azar, Changuleh-West, Dehloran and Musian. Their recoverable oil resources are estimated at about one billion barrels.
December 13, 2005: In Aktau (Kazakhstan), LUKOIL Overseas Holding Ltd. and National Oil and Gas Company KazMunayGaz held public hearings on the environment impact assessment of the planned oil production in the Atash and Tyub-Karagan sections of Kazakhstan's sector of the Caspian Sea.
December 14, 2005: In Moscow, LUKOIL's President Vagit Alekperov and Governor Alexander Filipenko of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area signed a supplementary agreement on cooperation between the Administration of the Area and the Company. The document establishes financial scheme of share construction for social facilities in KMAA municipalities in 2006.
December 15, 2005: In Moscow, LUKOIL signed sponsorship agreements anchoring support of the Company in 2006 for Russian professional sports teams and organizations. A sponsorship agreement was also signed between the Company and the Russian Ski Federation which stipulated financial support in preparing men's and woman's national teams for the Olympic Games in Torino.
December 16, 2005: In Kiev, Alexey Smirnov, Vice-President of LUKOIL, General Director of JSC LUKOIL-Neftekhim, and Dr. Wolfgang Essig, Chairman of Executive Board of Uhde GmbH (Germany) signed a contract for the construction of a chlorine and caustic soda production plant at JSC Karpatneftekhim (Ivano-Frankovsk Region, Ukraine).
December 20, 2005: In Perm, LUKOIL's President Vagit Alekperov and Governor of the Perm Region Oleg Chirkunov signed an agreement on economic and social cooperation. The agreement stipulates partnership of the parties aimed at creating favorable conditions for development of mineral resources base, also by allocating more funds for exploration and development of hydrocarbon reserves and by increasing oil and gas production.
December 21, 2005: In Moscow, LUKOIL's President Vagit Alekperov and Governor of the Volgograd Region Nikolay Maksyuta signed an agreement on social and economic cooperation between the Administration of the Region and the Company for the next three years. The agreement stipulates partnership aimed at further development and raising the efficiency of the fuel and energy sector, supplying fuel and lubricants, protecting environment and improving living conditions of Volgograd Region residents.
December 22, 2005: In Moscow, LUKOIL's President Vagit Alekperov and Governor of the Nenets Autonomous Area Alexey Barinov signed a cooperation agreement between the Administration of the Area and the Company. According to the agreement, the Parties will continue cooperation in subsoil exploration, oil and gas production, development of petroleum products supply system, production and social infrastructure of the Nenets Autonomous Area.
December 29, 2005: JSC LUKOIL-AERO acquired a fuel service complex Balandino in the Chelyabinsk international airport from JSC Sibir Airlines. The fuel service complex comprises a two-sided cargo pier designed for simultaneous discharge of 10 tank-wagons and 10 vertical tanks with total capacity of 14,000 m3. Annual volume of the serviced fuel is around 40,000 tons.
January 13, 2006: In Moscow, a meeting of the LUKOIL Board of Directors was held to summarize preliminary results of Company operation in 2005 and set objectives for 2006. The hydrocarbon reserves increased as a result of exploration and prospecting to 160 million tons of oil equivalent. Oil production increased by 4.5% against 2004 to 90.1 million tons. Gas production in 2005 increased by 17% year-over-year and exceeded 7.6 m3. Oil export in 2005 rose by 2.3% against the last year and amounted to 46.6 million tons. In 2005 gas export came to 4.1 m3, which is 17% more against 2004. Crude processing at the Company's refineries in 2005 amounted to 47.4 million tons.
January 13, 2006: In Moscow, LUKOIL published consolidated U.S. GAAP financial accounts for nine months of 2005. LUKOIL net income for nine months of 2005 was $4,801 million, which is an increase of 55.1% year-over-year. At the same time total tax expenses exceeded $13 billion, which is almost 85% higher against 2004.
January 19, 2006: In Moscow. LUKOIL's Managing Board approved the Corporate Program for Research and Development in 2006. The total volume of financing of the Program will amount to 654.5 million rubles.
January 20, 2006: In Moscow. LUKOIL's Managing Board approved the Corporate Program for Industrial Safety in 2006-2010. The total volume of financing of the Program in Russia will come to 26.7 billion rubles whereas in foreign subsidiaries of the LUKOIL Group it will total $73 million.
January 23, 2006: In the Gulf of Suez in the Red Sea (the Arab Republic of Egypt), LUKOIL Overseas Holding Ltd. started drilling of the second exploration well. The work will take one and a half month at the sea depth of 20 meters. The target well depth is 1574 meters. The total cost of works is $6.1 million.
January 25, 2006: LUKOIL discovered a major multilayer oil and gas condensate field in the Severny licensed area, in the northern part of the Caspian sea. The field was discovered with the first exploration well in Yuzhno-Rakushechnaya structure, 220 km from Astrakhan. The reserves of the new field under the “probable” and “possible” categories are estimated to be 600 million barrels of oil and 1.2 trillion ft3 of gas.
January 25, 2006: JSC LUKOIL-Nizhnevolzhskneft acquired 51% minus 1 share of JSC Primorieneftegaz. The amount of the transaction was $261 million. Primorieneftegaz holds license for geological exploration of the Poymenny area located 60 km to the north from Astrakhan. In in May 2004 it discovered the Central-Astrakhan gas condensate field in that area with its approved reserves under C1+C2 category constituting 1.2 trillion m3 of free gas and 300 million tons of condensate.
January 26, 2006: In the contract area of Block A in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, LUKOIL Overseas Holding Ltd. started deep exploration drilling. Block A is located in the eastern part of the Rub al-Khali basin to the south from Ghawar, the largest oil field in Saudi Arabia and in the world. The total area of the block is 29,928 km2.
