During the first nine months of the current year, oil production of OJSC “Surgutneftegas” reached 39,907 thousand tons compared to 36,287 thousand tons produced in the first nine months of 2002, a 10% increase.

Gas production increased by 5% against the same period of the last year and amounted to 10,258 million cubic meters.

This year the Company has drilled 2,309.6 thousand meters, or 104% against drilling in January – September 2002.

Exploratory drilling in the first nine months of the current year totaled 184.1 thousand meters.

In January – September 2003 the Company commissioned 703 new wells.

OJSC “Surgutneftegas” is aggressively developing infrastructure at the three oil fields recently put on stream: Tretyakovskoe, Zapadno-Chigorinskoe, and Ulyanovskoe. The Company built booster pump stations and laid out permanent motor roads to new oil fields. By the end of this year the number of production wells at these fields is to be increased to 70, with 37 commissioned up to now. Their production rate is to amount to over 14 thousand tons of oil.

In 2004, the Company is planning to commission yet another four new fields: Severo-Seliyarovskoe, Yukyavinskoe, Larkinskoe and Severo-Labatyuganskoe. The latter incorporates now three areas: Severo-Aipimsky, Zapadno-Aipimsky and Severo-Labatyugansky, the hydrocarbon production license for which was obtained by the Company in September 2002.

All of the new fields will be developed by the Company’s existing oil and gas production divisions, that is no new structural units will be formed.

Currently, the Company is busy preparing the fields for development – it lays out new roads and electric power lines, and constructs pipelines. Besides, OJSC “Surgutneftegas” started constructing booster pump stations at the Yukyavinskoe and Severo-Seliyarovskoe fields.

Press Service of OJSC “Surgutneftegas”