LUKOIL OBTAINED A NEW TANKER

Thursday, October 7, 1999

A ceremony of delivering a new ice-going tanker named "Murmansk" has been held at the MTF Schiffwerft GmbH shipyards in Wismar (Germany) today.

This is the last of the 5 tankers ordered by the Company in Germany. 5 other vessels of the same class will be built at the Admiralty shipyards in Saint Petersburg.

Ice-going tankers are primarily designated to transport oil from the Timan Pechora oil and gas province and to ship oil products to northern regions of Russia.

Today 10 tankers of the "river-sea" class are being built by LUKOIL's order at the Volgograd shipyards.

LUKOIL is considering a possibility of fitting-out the most powerful nuclear-powered ice-breaker named "The 50th Victory Anniversary" and is negotiating a joint participation in tanker construction with the government of Tatarstan.

Together with the sea vessels owned by LUKOIL's subsidiaries, the Company controls around 70 vessels of different classes including nuclear-powered ice-breakers with the total carrying capacity of over 1 million tons. "We take efforts so LUKOIL could have a powerful fleet in the nearest future which will satisfy all transportation needs of the Company as well as ensure exploration and production of crude at offshore fields," - said vice LUKOIL's Vice President Anatoliy Barkov at the keel-watering ceremony.