At today’s meeting, JSOC Bashneft’s Board of Directors has made a decision to create the Health, Safety and Environment Committee.

The new Committee of the Board of Directors includes:

1. Randall Gossen, the Chairman of the Committee, an independent director;
2. Charles Watson, an independent director;
3. Vitaliy Artyukhov, an independent director;
4. Yury Pustovgarov, an independent director;
5. Mukhail Stavskiy, the First Vice President for Upstream and Geology;
6. Maxim Andriasov, the First Vice President for Refining and Commerce;
7. Valentin Timakov, the Vice President for Personnel Management;
8. Radik Fakhretdinov, the Director of the HSE Department.

“The Committee has been created in order to produce recommendations to the Board of Directors concerning the environmental policy, measures for environmental protection, process safety, protecting employees’ life and health, efficient use of natural resources,” stated the Chairman of the Board of Directors Felix Evtushenkov. “This step reflects Bashneft’s commitment to best practices in these spheres, which are crucial for our company.”

The Board of Directors has also made a decision to convene an Extraordinary Meeting of Shareholders of JSOC Bashneft in the form of joint presence on January 17, 2013, and concluded that the list of the persons entitled to take part in the Meeting should be prepared by October 25, 2012.

The Board of Directors has approved the following agenda of the Meeting:

1. On the approval of the procedure for holding the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of JSOC Bashneft.
2. On the approval of the Charter of JSOC Bashneft in the new version.
3. On the removal of members of the Company’s Board of Directors from office before the end of their term.
4. On the approval of the number of members of the Company’s Board of Directors.
5. On the election to the Company’s Board of Directors.
6. On the removal of members of the Company’s Audit Commission from office before the end of their term.
7. On the election to the Company’s Audit Commission.
8. On the removal of members of the Company’s Audit Commission from office before the end of their term.
9. On the election to the Company’s Audit Commission.

The new version of JSOC Bashneft’s Charter includes the amendments related to redistribution of authority between the Board of Directors and the management after the completion of the Company’s reorganization. The proposed amendments to the Charter will enable Bashneft’s Board of Directors to focus on making decisions on the key strategic issues of the Company’s operations and its legal obligations, while additional authority will be delegated to the management.

Besides, on January 17, 2013, the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of JSOC Bashneft is to consider the issues of increasing the membership of the Company’s Board of Directors from 10 to 12 persons and electing a new membership of the Board.

The new Board of Directors of JSOC Bashneft is expected to include a larger number of independent directors in line with best corporate governance practice. It is expected that the list of candidates for the new Board of Directors will be approved in December 2012.

Bashneft’s Board of Directors has made a decision that the membership of the Management Board should be increased from 8 to 12 persons and that it should include Ruslan Gensh, the Vice President for Crude Oil Procurement, Marketing and Logistics, Igor Kalyuzhny, the Vice President for Information Technology, Yury Krasnevsky, the Vice President for Geology and Development, and Valentin Timakov, the Vice President for Personnel Management.

At the meeting, the Board of Directors has also considered other issues and has approved a number of transactions related to Bashneft’s day-to-day operations.