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Today in Moscow Vagit Alekperov, President of OAO ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº (‘¹û¶³Ó°Ôºâ€™), and Alessandro Garrone, CEO of ERG S.p.A. (‘ERG’), signed a supplementary agreement to the agreement (the ‘Agreement’) to establish a joint venture. This joint venture will operate the ISAB refinery complex inPriolo, Sicily.

The Agreement was signed in Rome on June 23, 2008. As part of the transaction, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº will acquire a 49% stake in the joint venture for a cash consideration of Euro 1.347 billion excluding inventory. ERG will retain 51%. The transaction structure provides ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº with a possibility to increase its stake in future.

According to the supplementary agreement, the transaction will be closed on December 01, 2008. By that time ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº will pay ERG an upfront amount of 600 million Euro. The remaining sum, including the share of the minimum operating inventory (valued at average November 2008 prices) and interest accrued, will be deferred and paid in three instalments before the end of September 2009. The ongoing outstanding payments will be secured by OAO ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº guarantee, along with a pledge on the acquired equity interest.