Bashneft seeks to resolve litigation as soon as possible

UFA, 31 October 2014. /Bashinform News Agency, Elvira Latypova/. «Bashneft seeks to resolve the said dispute as soon as possible, as it could potentially negatively impact the Company's relations with its counterparties», it is said in the statement of the oil company, released after the meeting of the Arbitration Court of Moscow on October 30. The court has upheld the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation for the recovery of JSOC Bashneft's shares owned by JSFC Sistema and CJSC Sistema-Invest in favour of the Russian Federation.

The ruling may be appealed within one month.

«Bashneft's management continues to make the necessary efforts to ensure smooth operation of the Company and strict compliance with its obligations to the state, the Company's shareholders, partners, employees and all other stakeholders», it is noted in the statement.

JSOC Bashneft is a vertically integrated oil company that operates in more than 20 regions of Russia and abroad. By the results of 2013 it ranks the sixth in Russia in terms of oil extraction (16.1 million tons) and the fourth in terms of its primary refining (21.4 million tons). The main shareholder is JSFC Sistema.