ODESA, MAY 17th, 2011, CONTEXT-PRICHERNOMORIE — Public Joint Stock Company Lukoil Odesa Oil Refinery will not be operating this year, Context-Prichernomorie correspondent reports.

Governor of Odesa Oblast Eduard Matviychuk has stated it today, 17 May, at the Sitting of Odesa Regional State Administration.

“In January—March 2011 compared with the corresponding period in 2010 the rate of decline of production in industrial enterprises in the Odesa region significantly slowed to 5.5%”, said the head of the Economic Department, Odesa Regional State Administration, Oleg Muratov.

As Governor Matviychuk added, this year Public Joint Stock Company Lukoil the Odesa Oil Refinery will not operate.

“As Lukoil will not be working, that means we will automatically face a drop in industrial production by 25-27%. We cannot influence this situation. We will have to compensate this at the expense of other enterprises”, said the Governor.

INFORMATION: Odesa Oil Refinery was put into operation in 1937 as a cracking plant. In 2000 it was renamed to OJSC Lukoil Odesa Oil Refinery. 97 % of the shares are held by Lukoil — a Russian oil company. After a long reconstruction the plant’s operation was resumed on 18 April 2008. As the result of its reconstruction its processing depth was increased from 56 % to 80 %, while its production capacity remained 2,8 million tons per year.