OREANDA-NEWS. December 14, 2011. NOVATEK (“NOVATEK” and/or the “Company”) has announced today that the Company, through its subsidiaries, has acquired a 100% participation interest in the share capital of OOO Gazprom Mezhregiongas Chelyabinsk (“Gazprom Mezhregiongas Chelyabinsk”) for total consideration of RR 1.55 billion.

Gazprom Mezhregiongas Chelyabinsk is responsible for the sale of natural gas to industrial and residential customers in the Chelyabinsk Region (the “Region”) and in 2010, and during the first nine months of 2011, supplied 11.4 billion cubic meters (bcm) and 7.4 bcm, respectively, of natural gas to the Region.

As a result of the acquisition, NOVATEK, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, will supply 100% of the Chelyabinsk Region’s gas demand which currently exceeds 15 bcm per annum, ranking it as one of the top ten Russian regions in terms of natural gas consumption. Prior to the acquisition, the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, OOO NOVATEK Chelyabinsk, supplied approximately 30% of the Region’s gas supply.

According to NOVATEK’s Chairman of the Management Board, Leonid V. Mikhelson, “The acquisition of Gazprom Mezhregiongas Chelyabinsk is consistent with the Company’s commercial strategy to increase market penetration in key natural gas consuming regions within the domestic market.”