OREANDA-NEWS. January 22, 2013. The Extraordinary Meeting of Shareholders of JSOC Bashneft convened in Ufa made a decision to increase the number of members of the Company’s Board of Directors from 10 to 12 and elected a new Board membership which includes the following persons:

Vitaliy Artuykhov

Alexey Buyanov

Charles Watson

Randall Gossen

Peter Jacob Goedvolk

Alexander Goncharuk

Mikhail Gutseriev

Sergey Drozdov

Felix Evtushenkov

Alexander Korsik

Yury Pustovgarov

Mikhail Cherniy

Thus, the number of independent directors on Bashneft’s Board increased, in accordance with best corporate governance practices.

At the meeting of the Board of Directors held after the Meeting of Shareholders, Felix Evtushenkov was elected Chairman of the Board.

The Board of Directors also approved the membership of the Health, Safety and Environment Committee (chaired by Randall Gossen), the Strategy Committee (chaired by Mikhail Cherniy), the Nominating and Compensation Committee (chaired by Alexander Goncharuk), the Budget and Audit Committee (chaired by Alexey Buyanov), and the Corporate Conduct Committee (chaired by Sergey Drozdov).

The Meeting of Shareholders also approved a new version of JSOC Bashneft’s Charter, which includes amendments related to redistribution of authority between the Board of Directors and the management after the Company’s reorganization was completed. The amendments made to the Charter will enable Bashneft’s Board of Directors to focus on making decisions on the key strategic issues related to the Company’s operations and its legal obligations, while additional authority will be delegated to the management.