ROSNEFT & SHELL PREPARE FOR SIGNING OF NEW AGREEMENT
Kommersant, Kyiv, Ukraine, October 22, 2007

KYIV - Rosneft and Shell are preparing to sign a new agreement. It will
outline cooperation in the framework of the agreement on strategic
partnership signed by the companies in July in detail, reports a source
close to one of the companies.

Several sources acquainted with the course of negotiations confirm this
information. According to one of them, the relevant documents may be
signed this week.

The source explain that the agreement deals with a possibility of
cooperation of the companies in geological exploration and production of
oil onshore in Russia. The agreement will be of a framework type and will
not include a list of certain fields.

First of all, Rosneft is interested in the technologies of Shell. A week
ago, Vice President of Rosneft Mikhail Stavsky said that Rosneft was
studying the possibility of using the technologies of Shell and
ConocoPhillips for production of heavy oil at the Severo-Komsomolskoe
field with reserves of 30 million tons.

In their agreement signed in July, Rosneft and Shell speak about the
possibility of joint participation in projects for oil exploration,
production and refining, as well as in marketing of petroleum products in
Russia and outside of it.

The agreement makes provisions for signing additional agreements dealing
with each segment. Representatives of Rosneft and Shell refuse to comment on signing the new agreement.