Tuesday July 17, 3:07 pm Eastern Time

Press Release

SOURCE: Tyumen Oil Co.

Tyumen Oil Outlines Confidence-Building Steps for Siberia's Yugraneft Oil Company

MOSCOW, July 17 /PRNewswire/

Tyumen Oil Co. pledged today to maintain the workforce, tax payments and market pricing for oil of Yugraneft, a Western Siberian joint venture whose ownership is in dispute with a group of Canadian investors.

The company announced that it had given those assurances yesterday in a meeting with the Canadian investors and the governor of the Russian region where Yugraneft is located. Tyumen Oil's CEO and president, Simon Kukes, told the governor of the Khanty-Mansiisk Autonomous Region and representatives of Cyprus-registered NOREX Petroleum Ltd. that no layoffs would occur at Yugraneft. Yugraneft, a joint venture between NOREX and Tyumen Oil's subsidiary TNK-Nizhnevartovsk, produces oil from the Malochernogorsk oilfield.

Kukes also stated that Yugraneft's oil would be purchased at market prices, that tax and license obligations to the region would be honored and that Tyumen Oil would continue to comply with all court decisions involving the dispute, to ensure transparency and fairness to all parties. Yugraneft's revenues are accumulating in bank accounts and will be distributed among the company's shareholders according to proportions set by a court.

``We are taking these steps to build confidence in our efforts to resolve this dispute, the settlement of which will allow us to introduce new technology to increase production from the oilfield,'' Kukes said.

Tyumen Oil has strictly adhered to court decisions and the Russian legal code in its attempts to resolve the ownership dispute, even though NOREX has violated four court decisions dating back to 1999, Russia's Constitution and several provisions of the country's civil legal code. Contrary to media reports, Tyumen Oil has not used force to take over Yugraneft, no workers are being prevented from doing their jobs and normal oil production is continuing. The Khanty-Mansiisk official press service reported today that the local prosecutor and law enforcement offices had not been able to confirm media reports of an illegal takeover of Yugraneft's offices by armed forces wearing camouflage clothing and masks.

The next step in the case is a hearing July 31 in the Khanty-Mansiisk Arbitration Court. Meanwhile, Tyumen Oil remains open to continuing dialogue with NOREX, including a potential followup meeting between the two sides with the regional governor's participation.

Tyumen Oil, established in 1995 and owned by the Russian Alfa Group and US-Russian Access/Renova, has proven crude oil reserves of more than 8.2 billion barrels and produces more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It ranks No. 2 in reserves and No. 4 in production among Russian oil companies, and was named the world's ``Best Oil and Gas Company'' of 2000 by Financial Times Energy. Tyumen Oil owns and franchises a chain of nearly 1,000 branded retail gasoline stations in Russia. For further information, visit www.tnk.ru .

SOURCE: Tyumen Oil Co.