September 9, 1997. - LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov opened a gasoline filling station and motel Friday, September 5, 26 kilometres outside Moscow along the Moscow-Riga highway.

The complex consists of a filling station with four gasoline pumps capable of serving eight vehicles at a time, a car wash, a car service section, a parking lot for trucks and a store to retail car accessories, lubricants and food. The station can handle up to 1,000 vehicles a day. A comfortable 17-room motel has all the modern amenities. The facility also includes a car showroom.

First Deputy Director of the Federal Road Administration Vladimir Yevstigneyev said at the ceremony: "We welcome the LUKOIL approach demonstrated here to highway services based on the same strategic principles as our own: a road should be beautiful and convenient. We regard highways as a commodity, the consumer qualities of which should improve. This means it should have such facilities and communications, and adjoining territories should be duly organized. Here we are ready to cooperate and are doing business already with several potential Russian investors."

Meanwhile, it has become a good tradition with LUKOIL to open several new filling stations for the Day of Oil and Gas Industry Workers marked on the first Sunday of September. One was opened in Lukhovitsy, Moscow region, on September 4, and two more are opening in St. Petersburg on September 10. Two should be opened in the Moscow districts of Mitino and Strogino in September as a company present for the 850th anniversary of the city.

By the year 2000 LUKOIL plans to increase the number of international-class filling stations to 500 with 50 of them in Moscow and its environs.

"By developing a network of roadside services we aim to make life more comfortable for drivers, to make a wide range of services would be available day and night for drivers to be able to tank their cars up with high quality gasoline, make any repairs, have a rest and bite to eat and continue their journey in good spirits," LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov said at the opening ceremony.

"We want LUKOIL filling stations to be seen on all roads in Russia, neighboring and far-off countries in the nearest future," he emphasized.

At the end of 1996 LUKOIL controlled about 800 filling stations, including its brand stations. A network of 35 outlets has been unfolded in Baltic states. Eleven are functioning in Turkey. A network is being developed in Poland.

October 1996 saw the opening of the biggest LUKOIL filling facility in Eastern Europe 18 kilometres outside of Brest (just outside the customs checkpoint on the border with Poland) which is capable of servicing 72 vehicles simultaneously.

LUKOIL opened its first gas station in the United States in Altavista, VA. on July 28, 1997. By the end of the year the company intends to increase the number of stations there to 100 there and to 2,000 in the future. LUKOIL stations are built in the parking lots of big U.S. supermarket chains. Four of them are already operating.

LUKOIL refineries produce a wide selection of unleaded gasolines. They started the manufacture of gasolines according to the EN 228 European standards: 1993 AI 95 Euro Super and AI 98 Euro Super Plus. LUKOIL also turns out about 30% of Russia's motor oils. For instance, the Perm refinery makes according to Shell technologies LUKOIL Super, LUKOIL Super Turbo, LUKOIL Nord and several other types of oils. It makes all-weather oils, including the semisynthetic LUKOIL Arctic. Oils are sold in 1, 3, 5, 10, 50 liter tanks and 200 liter barrels. LUKOIL oils meet all API quality standards.

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