Russian eighth-largest oil company (Slavneft) is looking to expand its markets in Iraq and Ukraine, reported the Moscow Times Wednesday.
According to the paper, Slavneft is the only Russian company planning to extract in Iraq, with which it began talks with last year about stepping up its oil activities.
Slavneft received a six-million-barrel share in the UN's oil-for-food program and is looking to strike an agreement with the Iraqis to develop the Subba deposit, which has reserves of more than 770 million barrels of oil.
"The contract should be signed any day now," said Slavneft’s vice president, Andrei Shtorkh.
These expansion plans are based on Slavneft's strategic plan to increase oil production to 56 percent by 2005, he said.
Meanwhile, the paper said that Slavneft is set to sign a contract with Ukraine that would give the company its first distribution network in the former Soviet state.
"We are putting more effort into the market so we don't lose it," said Anatoly Ternavsky, Slavneft vice president and one of the main delegates in negotiations with Ukraine.
These new investments will be financed by $270 million to $280 million in new loans from a slew of multinational banks. The loans will be underwritten by future oil exports, said the paper -- Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
