MOSCOW (MRC) -- Russia's second-biggest oil producer, Lukoil, played down the possibility of selling its oil refineries in Europe as margins improved, as per Reuters.
Lukoil said in June it might consider spinning off or selling its downstream assets in Europe to focus on exploration in Russia and abroad.
"At the moment, refineries in Europe are highly profitable. A year ago they were making heavy losses," Vladimir Nekrasov, Lukoil's First Vice President for Refining, told reporters.
He added that it was currently hard to say whether Lukoil could decide to sell its European downstream assets.
As MRC wrote previously, OAO Lukoil Holdings, Russia's No. 2 oil producer, will invest USD1 billion in the oil firm Samara-Nafta to increase production. Lukoil acquired Samara-Nafta from Hess Corp. this month for USD2 billion as part of a strategy to stabilize and increase oil production. Lukoil has for years fought declining output at its main, Soviet-era fields in Western Siberia. The investment in Samara-Nafta will increase production by between 5% and 7% over the next five years from 2.5 million tonnes a year, Prime news agency cited the company as saying.
Lukoil, a Russian-based company, is one of the global leaders in the production and refining of crude oil and gas resources. The world's largest privately owned oil and gas company, measured by proven oil reserves, LUKoil has operations in over 40 countries.
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