Sergei Kukura, First Vice-President of OAO LUKOIL, received the ARISTOS, one of the most prestigious Russian business awards, in the Financial Director nomination.

The ARISTOS award nominees are top managers who have occupied leading positions in the corresponding sections of the TOP 1,000 Russian Managers rating and who meet the highest criteria of professional efficiency. The joint survey was conducted by the Russian Managers Association and the Kommersant Publishing House.

The other two 2009 ARISTOS nominees from LUKOIL were Valery Subbotin, Vice President of LUKOIL (Commercial Director/Marketing Director nomination), and Anatoly Moskalenko, Head of LUKOIL’s Main Division of Human Resources (HR Director nomination).

Aleksandr Shokhin, member of LUKOIL’s Board of Directors, was recognized as the best independent director last year and received the ARISTOS-2008 award.

ARISTOS (the Greek for ‘best’) is an annual award bestowed on the most distinguished representatives of the Russian business community, i.e. those managers, recognized leaders in their industry, whose performance complies with the highest international standards and relies on state-of-the-art principles of business organization. The nominees are selected basing on the results of the TOP 1,000 Russian Managers rating compiled annually by the Managers Association using the principle of “the best are chosen by the best”. This ensures an objective assessment of managers’ professional reputation and provides for fair and well-defined criteria for choosing the winners. Five of LUKOIL’s managers have been included in the 10th Anniversary rating release.