Yukos To Expand European Refinery Business

Yukos Oil has said that it is looking to buy stakes in European refineries to secure customers abroad as Russia's second largest oil producer by production levels plans to raise output by a fifth this year and boost exports in the second half. Yukos, which has about $4 billion in cash, is looking to buy assets in Poland, Hungary, Germany, Austria or Turkey, the company's CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky told said. “We want to increase market share there and sell more oil,” Khodorkovsky said. “There's no need to buy a whole European refinery” to achieve that. Russia has indicated that it will allow more oil exports in the second half of the year, after restricting oil sales abroad to help the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries prop up world prices for the first half. While domestic oil producers have continued boosting output, prices at home, which are usually half of global market levels, have plunged to almost a quarter of those of the international rates.

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