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LUKoil President: We take interest to cooperate with Total

07 September 2009 09:12 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA-Economics. LUKoil is interested in implementing joint projects with France’s Total in Colombia and Kazakhstan, Ria Novosti quoted the head of Russia’s largest private oil company as saying Sunday.
"We are interested in work with Total, we are neighbors in terms of blocks in Colombia; talks are being held to swap information or unite efforts on the blocks," Vahid Alekberov said.
"Total has a huge experience of working in those regions. We hope these contacts will lead to joint projects," he said.
LUKoil said Tuesday it has completed the acquisition of a 45% stake in a Dutch oil refinery from France’s Total for $600 million.
"The value of the stake [in Total Raffinaderij Nederland (TRN)], excluding crude oil and products inventory, was $600 million, in line with an agreement reached between LUKoil and Total last June," the Russian crude producer said in a statement.
The shareholders will continue to operate the refinery on a processing basis by providing crude oil and other feedstocks and receiving back refined products on the basis of their ownership in the refinery, the Russian oil company said.
TRN is located in the Vlissingen Oost harbor area in the southwestern Netherlands, one of world’s largest oil and oil-product trading hubs (Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp), and benefits from access to well-established infrastructure, including the Maasvlakte Olie terminal, in which TRN owns a 22% share.
The plant has a capacity of 158,000 barrels per day and a hydro-cracking unit, one of the biggest in Europe, with a capacity of approximately 68,000 barrels per day, the statement said.
The refinery is capable of processing Russia’s Urals blend crude oil as well as significant volumes of straight-run fuel oil and vacuum gasoil, which will allow LUKOIL to integrate the plant into its production chain. The company will also be able to use TRN to supply and further develop its retail presence in Western Europe.
The acquisition of a share in TRN represents another milestone in LUKoil’s strategy to acquire world-class refining assets located in direct proximity to end-user markets, the statement said.