The Board of Directors of JSOC Bashneft has held its extraordinary meeting today and has discussed the preliminary results of investigation of the accident at the Trebs oilfield in the Nenets Autonomous District and the implementation of oil spill response procedures.

As previously reported, the accident involving a spill of oil containing reservoir fluids happened in the evening of 20 April while conducting an exploration well reentry at the Trebs oilfield. In the morning of 22 April, the oil well blowout was stopped due to the rapid mobilization of equipment, materials and human resources. No one was injured in the accident.

At present, under the emergency response plan approved by the Administration of the Federal Supervisory Natural Resources Management Service in the Nenets Autonumous District, the emergency response activities are being carried out on a 24-hour basis. To tackle the problem, 69 units of equipment and 151 employees have been mobilized; the oil spill has been contained, the 21,840 sq.m area near the well (out of 30,000 sq.m under the plan) has been cleaned up. 526 cubic meters of oil-containing reservoir fluids (out of 600 cubic meters under the plan) and 1,713 cubic meters of oil-contaminated snow (out of 3,000 cubic meters) have been collected and removed for disposal. Surface water is monitored daily; no threat of contamination with petroleum products has been detected. It is planned to complete the main activities before 1-2 May 2012; the residual contamination will be eliminated by a specialized organization using the technologies approved by the Federal Supervisory Natural Resources Management Service.

Based on the preliminary results of investigation of the causes of the accident, the Board of Directors has made a decision to use disciplinary actions against several senior executives of Bashneft and to remove them from office. The final results of the investigation will be taken into account when determining the amount of the bonuses to be paid to the Company’s management in 2012.

The Board of Directors instructed the management to ensure the implementation of all the necessary emergency response activities, to develop administrative and engineering measures aimed at accident prevention in the future, and to introduce amendments to the related expenditure plan of JSOC Bashneft if required.