THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Shell To Provide Refinery Mgmt Services To Sibneft: “Sibneft said it had awarded Shell Global Solutions a four-year contract to provide operational and technical services support for the refinery as part of an overall performance improvement program.” (ShellNews.net) Posted 25 Jan 05

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

MOSCOW -- OAO Sibirskaya Neftyanaya Kompaniya (SIBN.RS), or Sibneft, said Monday it has commissioned a unit of Royal Dutch/Shell (RD,SC) to overhaul its Omsk refinery.

Sibneft said it had awarded Shell Global Solutions a four-year contract to provide operational and technical services support for the refinery as part of an overall performance improvement program. It didn't say how much the contract is worth.

Sibneft said it plans to implement a number of technical and business solutions including Shell 's MERIT refinery maintenance program, aimed at increasing efficiency and reduce operating costs and energy consumption.

The deal is Shell's first in the Russian downstream sector.

The Omsk Refinery is among Russia's largest fuel and petrochemical suppliers, refining over 14 million metric tons of oil a year, or around 285,000 barrels a day.

Sibneft Web site: http://www.sibneft.com

Shell web site: http://www.shell.com

-By Geoffrey T. Smith, Dow Jones Newswires (+7 095) 974 8055; geoffrey.smith@dowjones.com