Amerada Hess Ventures into Russia

Amerada Hess has acquired a 65% interest in Trabant Holdings International, a company which owns 100% of ZAO Samara-Nafta, an exploration and production company located in the Volga-Urals region of the Russian Federation, for $25 million. Samara-Nafta currently produces approximately 7,500 bbls/day of high quality crude from fields in the Mamurinsky license area in the southern Samara region. Production from the fields commenced 2001.

Samara-Nafta will be led by Chief Executive Officer, Simon Kukes, a former CEO of both Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) and Yukos Oil.

John O'Connor, President of Amerada Hess Exploration & Production, said that "Amerada Hess is pleased to have the opportunity to join with Simon Kukes to evaluate the growth opportunities in one of Russia's important oil and gas producing provinces."