Russia: LUKoil Creates New Lube Deal with NLMK
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Wednesday, 18 March 2009 |
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LUKoil president Vagit Alekperov and Novolipetsk Steel chairman
Vladimir Lisin signed an agreement that would see the oil giant supply
the steelmaker with lubricants for the next three years. Neither the
amount of supplies nor the sum of the contract was disclosed.
The supplies from LUKoil will replace those that Novolipetsk, or NLMK,
used to import. In 2007, the latest year for which data was provided,
LUKoil provided 67 percent of NLMK's lubricants.
Producers have been moving toward local suppliers since prices for
imports were sent soaring by the devaluation of the ruble, which has
lost one-third of its value against the dollar since July. Speaking to
local reporters, Lisin said NLMK was exporting nearly all of its output
as the steel sector had come to a standstill. The firm is currently
working at 85 percent capacity.
NLMK's accounts receivables now stand at 1.5 billion rubles ($42.6
million), 1 billion of which is owed by Oleg Deripaska's GAZ Group, the
country's second-biggest carmaker, Lisin said. "GAZ will have to go
bankrupt," Lisin said, adding that NLMK no longer supplied the carmaker.
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