Company news in 2004

East Siberian Gas Company (ESGC) OJSC is going to draft a feasibility study of the project to gasify the Irkutsk Region on the basis of the Kovykta gas and condensate field and to agree it upon with governmental authorities, informed Mr. Alexey Sobol, General Manager of ESGC.

The Orsk Administration summarized results of the municipal contest entitled The Best Municipal Patron of Arts 2004.

Cooperation between TNK-BP Management OJSC and the Raduzhny (Municipal Entity) Administration continues to develop.

In 1H04, TNK''s enterprises extracting oil in the Khanty Mansiisk Autonomous Area (KMAA) pushed up output by 13.9% y-o-y, to 21,884,559 tons.

Varieganneftegaz OJSC put forward a proposal to the municipal administration and the Committee for Education and Youth Policy as to establish a student construction team on the basis of its fields.

Regional newspapers have published information on TNK-BP''s intention to invest into restoration of St. Petersburg architectural monuments.

A working meeting of TNK-BP''s Executive Director German Khan and Ryazan Governor Georgy Shpak was held in Ryazan last week.

Mr. Vitaly Goncharenko, Deputy General Manager of Varieganneftegaz, Economics and Finance, told about the enterprise''s performance in the first half of the year.

The Economic News Agency informs that, thanks to oil extraction, the Uvat District has not received subsidies from the regional budget for several years already.

Information on the intention of Orenburgneft OJSC to implement the seismic prospecting program in the entire Orenburg Region.

This month, the Lisichansk refinery started to master manufacturing of new products. Besides fuel, the refinery will start to manufacture road and construction bitumen.

On July 9, the Russo-British TNK-BP set up the first proprietary retail filling facility in Ukraine, in Kiev. It embodies a new comprehensive retail offer developed by TNK-BP''s professionals.

The Russo-British TNK-BP is going to annually pump 1.3-1.4 million tons of oil through the Odessa/Brody oil pipeline, informed the News Service of TNK-BP Ukraine on July 6, with reference to the company''s President Alexander Gorodetsky.

Reports on a joint news conference of Mr. Andrey Khvan, Chief Engineer of Tyumenneftegaz OJSC, Mr. Radiy Raziapov, Chief Geologist, and Mr. Yuriy Sviatskevich, Head of the Uvat District.

TNK-BP''s Board Chairman and CEO Robert Dudley approved of the HSE standards.

ESCG plans to sign an agreement with RUSIA Petroleum for Kovykta gas supplies by September 1, informed ESGC''s General Manager A. Sobol.

H.E. Victor Chernomyrdin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation states that the bitumen plant was timely launched at LINOS LLC (Lisichansk, Lugansk Region), during a news conference at the enterprise.

The five-millionth ton of oil from the start of operation was extracted in the Kalchino field located in the south of the Tyumen Region on July 8.

Novy Region television channel informs that Udmurtneft OJSC proved its title of Udmurtia''s best company as concerns environmental safety. ISO 14001, international environmental certificate, was retained by Udmurtneft and TNK-BP.

Production problems and half-year performance result were discussed by representatives of TNK-BP management.

LiNOS LLC (former LiNOS OJSC, Lisichansk Refinery, Ukraine) pushes up gasoline production by 13.3%, to 837,300 tons, in 1H 2004 y-o-y, the enterprise informed on July 9.

A series of meetings of TNK-BP''s top management with trade union heads of most enterprises have taken place in the Company since early 2004.

LiNOS (Lisichansk refinery, makes part of TNK-BP) OJSC is going to commission a $20 million isomerization plant by April 1, 2005, informed Mr. Antony Considine, TNK-BP’s Vice President, at a news conference at Lisichansk, after launching of the $15 million bitumen plant.

Report on a visit by Canadian auditors from PricewaterhouseCoopers of fields of Udmurtneft OJSC (makes part of TNK-BP holding).

A report on TNK-BP''s retail business. TNK-BP''s retail network became the winner of Golden Net 2004, an annual all-Russian contest, in the Retail Stations category.

Information broadcast with review of June events. Crude oil output continues to grow at Orenburgneft OJSC. Business units of Orenburgneft OJSC extracted 1.150 million tons of oil in June 2004.

The Lisichansk refinery (Ukraine), the refining capacities of which are owned by TNK-BP international holding, launched a $15-million new bitumen production plant on July 8, the PR Directorate of TNK-BP Ukraine informed.

The Board of Directors of Verkhnechonskneftegaz OJSC (a subsoil user of the Verkhnechonsk oil, gas, and condensate field, Irkutsk Region) elected Mr. Alistair Fergusson, TNK-BP''s Vice President, as its Chairman at a meeting on July 1, TNK-BP informed.

Orenburgneft OJSC plans to increase investments into prospecting in the Orenburg Region up to RUR 1.770 billion in 2005 versus RUR 530 million planned for 2004, according to the statement of ONACO Media with reference to Mr. Sergey Nazarov, Chief Geologist at Orenburgneft.

TNK-BP''s Moscow Office confirmed information that an agreement for technological crude oil supplies was prepared.

The Supervisory Board of Ukrtransnafta OJSC is going to review a set of documents pertaining to the start of the Odessa/ Brody oil pipeline operation and to its filling with technological crude oil which TNK-BP proposed to supply on Thursday.

TNK-BP''s Board of Directors will consider on July 23 the issue of allocation of funds to be used for pre-project work under the project to construct a 12-million ton capacity terminal in the Leningrad Region, as representatives of the company informed the Leningrad Region Vice Governor Grigory Dvas during a working meeting on July 6

Tyumenneftegaz OJSC (makes part of TNK-BP) increased crude output by 1.9%, to 1,055,344 tons, in January/June 2004, y-o-y, the company informed on July 6.

The television channel reports of the Olympics in Udmurtneft OJSC.

The newspaper writes about a business visit of Mr. David Campbell, Head of Udmurtia business unit, to Udmurtia''s largest field – the Chutyrsko Kiengop field.

BP''s representatives from England and the Netherlands have visited fields of large business units, Samotlor and Vostok.

The aspiration of the Russian state to take a more active part in regulation of volumes of extracted and exported natural resources is legitimate, said Lord John Brown, CEO of BP Group of Companies, on July 1.

TNK-BP today announced the appointment of Evgeny Astakhov to the position of General Tax Counsel for the TNK-BP group of companies, with effect from July 5 2004.

Baikal Bank of the RF Savings Bank and East Siberian Gas Company OJSC (ESGC) concluded a cooperation agreement, announced the PR Sector of Baikal Bank of the RF Savings Bank on July 2.

The task group in charge of TNK-BP''s joining the Consortium for Development of Hydrocarbon Fields in East Siberia and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is being established, informed Mr. Alistair Fergusson, Vice President, New Gas Extraction and Sales Project Development, of TNK-BP Management OJSC.

In 1Q 2004, TNK-BP increased crude oil output by 14% y-o-y, said Lord John Brown, Head of BP Group of Companies, in Moscow on July 2.

Mass media inform of the meeting of TNK-BP''s representatives with the republican senior executives, which was held in the Residence of the Udmurtian Republic President on July 1.

A meeting of the republican senior executives with TNK-BP''s representatives at the Residence of the Udmurtian President on July 1.

BP’s CEO Lord John Brown considers amendments made to the initial agreement with TNK-BP’s Russian owners as technical ones and does not think that the plans to sell BP’s shares received by them during the transaction pose any danger to the company.

Mr. Alexey Miller, Board Chairman of Gazprom OJSC, and Lord Brown, BP’s President, discussed bilateral cooperation on the global energy market and also touched upon the Kovykta field development on July 1.

To all appearances, work under the Sakhalin V Project will start in the next few weeks. As Sir John Brown, President of UK''s BP, said in Moscow yesterday, the company he heads had concluded an agreement with Rosneft for establishment of a management company to be in charge of development of the fields located in the southern part of the Sakhalin V Project on Wednesday.

Based on the results of finals of the Russian Table Tennis Club Championship, Sorochinsk-based team of Orenburgneft has become the Champion of Russia once again. Mr. German Khan, TNK-BP''s Executive Director, awarded prizes to the four-time winners in Moscow.

Professionals from British Petroleum and TNK-BP visited several facilities in the Samotlor and Khokhriak fields today.

An article on the environmental nature of all efforts aimed at reconstruction of the Ryazan refinery.

It is appropriate to develop East Siberian oil on a system basis, said Mr. Sergey Tulinov, Senior Advisor on Business Development Strategy at TNK-BP Management OJSC to reporters on June 30.