Mr. Vagit Alekperov, the President of LUKOIL, and Jiang Jiemin, the President of the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement in Beijing.

In accordance with the signed document, the companies intend to expand the interaction under the existing projects, as well as to co-operate in the prospective projects of oil and gas production, development, refining and production of petroleum products in the third countries. The parties will also discuss the opportunities of cooperation in the area of oil and natural gas supplies to China and refining of hydrocarbons at the territory of the country.

In order to implement the Agreement, within two weeks the parties will create a Joint Coordination Committee that will meet at least twice a year to discuss and to make decisions on the development of the integrated plan and to draft agreements and relevant work plans for the specific projects. Within the Committee, working teams can be created for resolving specific issues of joint activities.

The parties will organize regular meetings of their managers, hold teleconferences, organize mutual visits of specialists and develop cooperation in the area of advanced training and continuing education of employees.

Currently, LUKOIL and CNPC are effectively working together in two joint projects in Kazakhstan. The companies are developing Kumkol field in Kyzylorda Region on parity basis. The total production volume in 2006 was 3.4 million tons of oil and 119 cubical meters of gas. In North Buzachi project (Mangistau Region) LUKOIL has 25% of shares and CNPC possesses 50%. The production in 2006 amounted to 1.3 million tons of oil.

Each of the companies also has 20% of shares in the international operating consortium for the exploration in the Uzbekistan part of the Aral Sea where the stage of maritime and land seismic 2D is going to start in the nearest future.