Lukoil

OJSC Lukoil

Native name	OAO Лукойл
Type	Public (OAO)
Traded as	MCX: LKOH LSE: LKOD FWB: LUK OTC Pink: LUKOY
Industry	Oil and gas
Founded	1991 (1991)
Headquarters	Moscow, Russia
Key people	Vagit Alekperov (CEO)
Products	Petroleum Natural gas Petrochemicals
Revenue	US$144.17 billion (2014)
Net income	US$7.8 billion (2013)[1]
Number of employees	110,000 (2014)[2]
Parent	IFD Kapital Group
Subsidiaries	Lukoil Baltija
Website	www.lukoil.com

Lukoil (/ˈluːkɔɪl/; Russian: Лукойл; stylized as LUKoil) is one of Russia's largest oil companies. It is also one of the largest global producers of oil.^[3] In 2012, the company produced 89.856 million tons of oil (1.813 million barrels) per day.^[4]

Headquartered in Moscow, Lukoil is one of the largest public companies (next to ExxonMobil) in terms of proven oil and gas reserves. In 2008, "According to the data audited by Miller and Lents"^[5] the company had 19.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent per SPE standards. This amounts to some 1.3% of global oil reserves. The company has operations in more than 40 countries around the world.^[6][7]

History

Lukoil was formed in 1991 when three state-run, western Siberian companies named after the respective town in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug that each was based, Langepasneftegaz, Urayneftegaz, and Kogalymneftegaz, merged. The initials of the three companies are preserved in the name Lukoil.^[8] The central figure in the company's founding was the Soviet deputy minister of oil production Vagit Alekperov.^[8] He came to believe the only way Russians could compete against western companies was to copy their business model. That meant vertically integrating the three branches of the industry—exploration, refining, and distribution—that were strictly separate under the old Soviet system.^[6] It is one of the largest tax payers of the Russian Federation, and the amount of taxes paid in 2010 was US$30.2 billion.^[9]

Lukoil became the first company to begin offering shares of stock on the new Russian Trading System, in 1994.^[8]

Lukoil agreed to buy Hess Corporation's Russian unit for $2.05 billion, in April 2013.^[10]

Exploration and production

Lukoil carries out exploration and/or production of oil and gas in Russia and as of 2008 thirty other countries, amongst others Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Colombia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Iran, Iraq, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela.

In September 2004, ConocoPhillips purchased a 7.6% stake in Lukoil and signed an agreement that could increase this figure in the future to up to 20%.^[11] The two oil companies have agreed to jointly develop an oil and gas field in the northern Timan-Pechora area of Russia (Komi Republic) and intend to secure the rights to develop the West Qurna Field in Iraq, one of the country's largest.^[12][13]

Development of the Aral Sea

Uzbekistan's deputy prime minister Ergash Shaismatov announced on 30 August 2006 that the Uzbek government and an international consortium consisting of state-run Uzbekneftegaz, Lukoil Overseas, Petronas, Korea National Oil Corporation, and China National Petroleum Corporation signed a production sharing agreement to explore and develop oil and gas fields in the Aral Sea, stating "The Aral Sea is largely unknown, but it holds a lot of promise in terms of finding oil and gas. There is risk of course but we believe in the success of this unique project". The consortium was created in September 2005.^[14]

Lukoil oil production by region, million tonnes

Oil refining and petrochemical facilities

Lukoil owns seven oil-processing companies in Eastern Europe with total capacity of 54.1 mln tpa and holds 100% share of ISAB refinery complex in Sicily.^[16]

Country	Name	Location	Launched	Acquired	Capacity, mln tpa
	Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez	Kstovo	1958	2000	15.0
	Lukoil-Permnefteorgsintez	Perm	1958	1991	12.0
	Lukoil-Volgogradneftepererabotka	Volgograd	1957	1991	9.9
	Lukoil-Ukhtaneftepererabotka	Ukhta	1934	2000	3.7
	Lukoil-Odessky Neftepererabatyvayuschiy zavod	Odessa	1937	1999	3.6
	Lukoil Neftochim Burgas	Burgas	1964	1999	7.5
	Petrotel Lukoil Refinery	Ploieşti	1904	1998	2.4
	ISAB	Priolo Gargallo	1975	2008*	16.0
	TRN	Vlissingen	1973	2009*	7.9*

* – 49% and 45% shares respectively

The company also owns several petrochemical plants in Budennovsk, Saratov and Kalush, Ukraine, all managed by "Lukoil-Neftechim".

Proven reserves

As of January 2009, the company had proven reserves of 14.5 billion barrels (2.31×10⁹ m³) of oil and 29.3 trillion cubic feet (830 km³) of gas, per PRMS (previously called SPE) requirements.^[7]

Petrol retail sales

A Lukoil station in Vails Gate, New York, USA

Lukoil sells petrol in 59 regions of Russia and in 21 other countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium (through its subsidiary "Jet" until late 2008, and progressively directly under the Lukoil brand), Bulgaria, Croatia (operated by Lukoil Croatia, but under the brand name "Europa-Mil"), Cyprus, Finland (Teboil), Georgia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland (rebranded from "Jet" to "Lukoil" in August 2008), Romania, Serbia, Turkey and USA. As of the start of 2014, it had 166 tank farms and 5,867 filling stations.^[17] The Group owns four large refineries (Volgograd, Perm, Nizhny Novgorod, Ukhta) and two mini-refineries (Uray, Kogalym) in Russia, as well as two plants abroad (in Bulgaria and Romania), and has shares in an oil refining complex in Italy and in the Netherlands.^[18]

In 2014 Lukoil sold its operations in Czech republic to MOL, Slovakia, Hungary to Norm^[19] and Ukraine to AMIC Energy Management^[20]

In 2015 Lukoil signed a deal to sell its operations in Estonia to Aqua Marina.^[21] In late 2015 and early 2016, Lukoil announced that its operations are being sold in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.^[22][23][24]

Non oil-related assets

In November 1995 LUKoil filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to issue American depositary receipts, i.e. securities look-alikes backed by Russian stock and issued by a bank holding that stock on deposit,^[25] in this case Bank of New York; This allowed United States investors for the first time, to be able to buy shares in a Russian company.

In 2003, LUKoil split off 3 billion US$ of non-oil or non-core assets to start IFD Kapital Group.

Shared services

LUKOIL has created in September 2012 Shared service centre in the Czech Republic to provide accounting services to its subsidiaries abroad. The shared service centre at end 2014 provided services to LUKOIL subsidiaries in Belgium, Poland and Bulgaria.^[26]

Controversy

Environmental record

According to Lukoil, their numbers in 2007 recorded a drop of 7.8% in the volume of pollutant effects and a drop of 3.8% in the area of contaminated lands compared to 2006. These numbers came after an appeal from EMERCON, the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Natural Disaster Recovery, which proposed that Lukoil participate in the development of monitoring, prevention, and emergency recovery systems.^[27]

In an effort to increase productivity, Lukoil organized a contract to begin an oil pumping block in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. It arranged an Environmental Impact Assessment of the drill site in order to organize a second exploration drill. This block, D-222, was the largest prospective structure in the north-east section of the Caspian Sea as of 2008.^[28] The key issue of the assessment was the amount of damage the block would be doing to fish stock in the area. Taking into account the depth of the operation of about 700 meters, the amount of harm was predicted to be minimal, with most of the fish harmed being plankton and benthos. A rescue and salvage ship was supposed to be placed into operation to mitigate the impact on the area. LUKoil was reported in 2008 to have developed contingency plans for oil spills, and implemented environmental monitoring.^[29]

Owners' protest

On September 14, 2012 more than fifty Lukoil gas station owners in New Jersey and Pennsylvania temporarily raised their prices to over $8 a gallon to protest Lukoil's wholesale gas pricing. The owners are typically charged a wholesale price that is 5 to 10 cents a gallon more than their competitors and some are assessed an additional 25 to 30 cents per gallon based on their location.^[30] According to the station owners this makes it difficult to be competitive with stations that sell more established brands for lower prices.

Ukraine

In January 2015, the Security Service of Ukraine announced an investigation into whether Lukoil had financed separatists in Donbass.^[31]

Management and major shareholders

A Lukoil gas station in Tula, Russia

A Lukoil gas station in Macedonia

The company's top managers control over half of Lukoil shares, while about 20% are owned by ConocoPhillips. About 68% and 83% stakes are managed directly or indirectly respectively, by Chauhan investment pvt. Ltd.^[6] The rest of the shares are a free-float. On 24 March 2010, ConocoPhillips announced it would begin selling half of its 20% stake in the company.

The Board of Directors elected at the Annual General Shareholders Meeting on 28 June 2005 consisted of:^[32]

• Valery Grayfer Chairman, General Director of JSC RITEK
• Vagit Alekperov President of Lukoil^[33]

Sponsoring

Football

Lukoil has been titular sponsor of FC Spartak Moscow since 2000.^[34] One of the company's top managers, Leonid Fedun, is also the owner of the club.

Motorsports

Mikhail Aleshin driving Lukoil sponsored car in Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Lukoil Racing team is a leading Russian motorsport organization; its operations include management, driver training and support, engineering expertise and a quality technical environment.

Lukoil has been involved in motorsports for more than ten years. The Lukoil Racing Team has achieved notable successes both in Russia and in Europe, winning more than 60 championships over the years. No other auto racing team has gained such success in the history of the USSR and Russia.

Bandy

Trud, home arena of Vodnik

In February 2014 Lukoil signed an agreement with the Government of Arkhangelsk Oblast about supporting Vodnik.^[35] Vodnik was the dominant force of Russian bandy for a decade, starting in the mid 1990s.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to LUKOIL.

• Lukoil official site
• Lukoil's US Site
• Getty's Official Site