Moscow, October 14 2002; Sibneft has closed on a $510 million syndicated loan with Citibank/Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, BNP Paribas and Westdeutsche Landesbank acting as mandated arrangers. The loan, originally authorized at $450 million when launched in July, was significantly oversubscribed and increased due to strong demand from the bank market. Raiffeisen Zentralbank and Natexis Banques Populaires participated as lead arrangers.

The Sibneft transaction ranks as the largest credit extended to a Russian corporate this year to date in Russia. The transaction's five-year tenor represents the longest term of any export financing received by a Russian oil company since the country's financial crisis in 1998.

The loan is structured in two tranches, one with a five-year tenor and the other with a tenor of three and a half years. Proceeds from the loan will be used to fund Sibneft's capital expenditures, which due to rapid production growth are set to rise to approximately $800 million this year from $618.7 million in 2001.

Sibneft in March and April placed in two tranches a $400 million Eurobond. The company in December 2001 signed an agreement for a $175 million loan arranged jointly by ING Bank and Societe Generale, which was increased to $225 million in early 2002, also in response to strong demand.

Contact:

John Mann
Sibneft
Tel: +7 095 777 3116
Fax: +7 (095) 777 3114
JohnM@sibneft.ru
www.sibneft.com