YukosSibneft to Grow into World Oil Giant

YukosSibneft, established on April 22 as a result of the merger between Russian oil giants YUKOS and Sibneft, is going to be at the top of the world oil reserves and become the world's fourth largest oil production company with even better outlooks for years to come.

Experts believe the newly founded company is the biggest and mightiest player on the Russian market with rates of growth amounting to some 20 percent a year. According to the latest 2001 SPE estimate, YukosSibneft's total oil reserves including those of the Slavneft will amount to 19.4bn barrels in oil-and-gas equivalent. The new company's oil production will come to some 2.3m barrels a day.

According to the merger deal YUKOS will buy out 20 percent of the Sibneft's shares from the latter's shareholders for $3bn. Moreover, Sibneft's shareholders will change the remaining package for YUKOS assets in a proportion of 0.36125 to 1, Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper reported.

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