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At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), the annual Russian business event for the economic sector, Sovcomflot and Gazprom Neft entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the supply of marine lubricants.

The new agreement, which was signed by Sergey Frank, president and CEO of PAO Sovcomflot, and Alexander Dyukov, chairman of the management board of Gazprom Neft, will provide for the potential geographical expansion of the existing supply of marine lubricants and increase the number of ships using these lubricants to 19 within the next two years.

Sovcomflot, the 100% state owned Russian maritime shipping company specializing in petroleum and LNG shipping, currently uses Gazprom marine lubricants on six of its tankers, including Kirill Lavrov and Mikhail Ulyanov - the shuttle tankers which transport oil from the Prirazlomnoye field owned by Gazprom Neft Shelf.

Sovcomflot's three new Arctic tankers - Shturman Albanov, Shturnman Malygin and Shturman Ovtsyn - will also use Gazprom lubricants when they take up their role later in the year to transport crude oil as part of Gazprom Neft's development of the Novy Port oil and gas condensate field in Ob Bay.

Sovcomflot's CEO, Sergey Frank, said: "The signing of today's memorandum is logical. Sovcomflot Group and Gazprom Neft have been successfully cooperating for a long time, including within the major industrial project Prirazlomonye. This year, the partnership relationships between our companies will be taken to a new level.

Gazprom Neft Lubricants is the lubricants arm of Gazprom Neft, the fourth largest oil producer in Russia and third largest in refining throughput. It has been producing marine lubricants since 2012. In 2015, in connection with the restrictions established by the Marine Polution 73/74 (MARPOL) convention, it launched the production of marine lubricants especially designed for engines using low-sulphur fuel. Last year, Gazpom Neft Lubricants became the leader in the supply of marine lubricants in Russia, increasing its market share to 26 percent.

Alexander Dyukov said: "The lubricants business strategy of Gazprom Neft provides for investments in technologies and infrastructure to achieve the best quality of products of services.

"This facilitates implementation of the import substitution policy and allows us to offer our partners solutions that can significantly increase the efficiency of their business."