LUKOIL LAUNCHED A NEW TANKER

Saturday, June 8, 2002

Today, at the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin took part in a keel-watering ceremony of a new ice-breaker class tanker named "Usinsk", built for LUKOIL. The ceremony was also attended by Head of the Komi Republic Vladimir Torlopov, St. Petersburg Governor Vladimir Yakovlev, LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov.

Usinsk tanker is the last of the 5 tankers ordered by LUKOIL at the Admiralty Shipyards. The final construction works and trials of the tanker will be completed within 5 months. The 3 tankers that were commissioned earlier already operate on the North Sea Route and are used for transportation of oil products to the Far North and for transportation of crude oil from the Timan Pechora province.

The tankers are designated to operate in inclement Arctic environment and are able to ship 4 types of various cargo simultaneously, including crude oil and gas condensate. They are equipped with automated navigation systems and state-of-the-art ship systems. A double hull tanker may go through 0.5 m thick ice with a speed of 1.5-2 knots. The tanker is 155 m in length, 24 m in width, tanker draft is 9 m. Speed is 15.4 knots. Deadweight is 20,000 tons. The crew consists of 24 people. Autonomous navigation may last for 60 days. Navigation range is 8,000 miles and navigation area is not restricted.

5 other ice tankers have been built for the Company at the MTW shipyards in Wismar (Germany). Also, LUKOIL-ordered sea-river tankers are now being built in Volgograd. Six of them have already been commissioned.

“I am confident that the program of construction of ice tankers carried out by LUKOIL will make a significant contribution to development of transportation infrastructure, an extremely important component of a successful development of the Timan Pechora province and Russia’s North West region in general”, stated LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov.