Alfa Group, Access/Renova and BP to create new company

Alfa Group, Access/Renova and British Petroleum are creating a new oil company, the companies said in a joint statement. The company will unite interests of each party and become the third largest oil company in Russia in respect to the volume of reserves and production.

The volume of proven oil reserves of the new holding is 9.488bn barrels. The annual oil production will be 1.21m barrels. The company will own five oil refineries with a combined capacity of 1m barrels per day. The holding will manage a network of 2,100 filling stations in Russia and Ukraine.

BP will have a 50 percent block of shares in the company, the other half will belong to Alfa-Group and Access/Renova (AAP). AAP will transfer to the new company its shares in the Tyumen Oil Company, SIDANKO, Rusia Petroleum, shares in the Rospan gas field in the Western Siberia and the Sakhalin-4 and Sakhalin-5 projects. BP will transfer its shares in SIDANKO, Rusia Petroleum, the Sakhalin-5 project, the network of BP filling stations in Moscow, BP assets in the oil-trading sector in Russia. In addition to these assets BP will invest some monetary resources and its own shares.

The new company will have exclusive rights to implement all projects of AAP and BP in Russia and Ukraine. It is also considering the possibilities to broaden its activities to other CIS countries and Eastern Europe.

The Board of Directors will consist of 10 members; 5 directors representing AAP and BP each.

© &to=http://www.rbc.com' target=_blank>RBC

&to=http://www.bp.com' target=_blank>BP

&to=http://www.alfagroup.org/' target=_blank>Alfa Group