Today, Bashneft and OJSC Sberbank of Russia have concluded a Strategic Cooperation Agreement until 2018 as part of the 19th Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum. The document was signed by the Company’s President Alexander Korsik representing Bashneft and Maxim Poletaev, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, representing Sberbank of Russia.

The Agreement provides for greater cooperation between Bashneft and Sberbank of Russia in a number of areas, including provision of funding by Sberbank and optimization of Bashneft’s debt portfolio, as well as provision of investment banking services to the Company (via Sberbank CIB).

In addition, the Strategic Cooperation Agreement provides for a possibility of developing joint marketing initiatives, cooperation and exchange of expertise in internal business process management and personnel management.

PJSOC Bashneft is a vertically integrated oil company operating in over 20 regions of Russia and abroad. In 2014 the Company ranked sixth in terms of oil production (17.8 million tonnes) and fourth in terms of crude oil distillation (21.7 million tonnes) among Russian oil companies. Bashneft accounts for 3.4% of Russia’s total oil production and 7.6% of total oil refining. As of December 31, 2014, the Company’s proved oil reserves under PRMS classification totalled 2.145 billion barrels; in 2014 Bashneft’s reserve replacement ratio stood at 179%, while the reserves-to-production ratio amounted to 16.9 years.

Sberbank of Russia is Russia’s largest bank and a leading global financial institution. Sberbank holds almost one third of aggregate Russian banking sector assets, it is the key lender to the national economy and the biggest deposit taker in Russia. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is the founder and principal shareholder of Sberbank owning 50% of the Bank’s authorized capital plus one voting share, with the remaining 50% held by domestic and international investors. Sberbank has more than 135 million individual customers and 1 million corporate clients in 22 countries. Sberbank has the largest distribution network in Russia with almost 17,000 branches, and its international operations include UK, US, CIS, Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey and other countries. The Bank holds the general banking license No.1481 issued by the Bank of Russia. The official website is www.sberbank.ru.