OREANDA-NEWS. On 01 September 2009 OAO NOVATEK (“NOVATEK”) announced that OAO Russian Railways (Russian Railways) CEO Vladimir Yakunin and NOVATEK CEO Leonid Mikhelson held a working meeting to discuss the two companies’ cooperation, under their Strategic Partnership Agreement, relating to the transportation of liquid hydrocarbons from NOVATEK’s wholly-owned Purovsky Processing Plant (“Purovsky Plant”).

At the meeting, it was noted that during the 1H 2009, the mutual cooperation between the companies had a positive and beneficial influence on both their financial and operational results. In the 1H 2009, NOVATEK increased volumes shipped by Russian Railways from the Purovsky Plant by 29.5%, as compared to the same period in 2008, while payments for rail transportation increased by 18.8% compared to the 2008 period.

The two CEO’s noted that the preservation of the current terms of cooperation would allow the companies to continue the positive growth in production and rail transport of stable gas condensate and LPG in 2010.