No Need to Borrow, Lukoil Claims

Russia's largest independent oil producer Lukoil Holdings (LKOH.RS) isn't planning to borrow more money on international markets unless there are interesting assets to buy, the company's Chief Executive Vagit Alekperov said Thursday. Last year, Lukoil bought a controlling stake in a large Italian refinery and has been rumored to be interested in several other European downstream assets, including Spain's Repsol (REP). When asked if the company is still interested in buying a stake in Repsol, Alekperov said Lukoil is interested in any asset up for sale, but declined to elaborate. Alekperov also confirmed the company's 2009 production target at between 97 million and 98 million tons of crude oil this year. The Interfax news agency cited Alekperov as saying Lukoil may pay $1.5 billion for part of BP PLC's (BP) stake in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium that pumps Kazakh crude to the Black Sea. Copyright 2009 Dow Jones Newswires. All rights reserved.

Back