"We are aware of our responsibility for the environment and therefore have drafted this program," said Igor Zaikin, deputy head of the company's main technical department.
Zaikin said 75% of the funds would go to implement a clean-air project to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17,000 metric tons in 2009-2013. Over that period, LUKoil enterprises are tasked with cutting a total of 645,000 metric tons of polluting emissions.
The company's environmental program, if implemented, will be worth $435 million in tax breaks to be granted to the crude producer under provisions of the Kyoto protocol to the UN framework convention on climate change, the executive said.
LUKoil, which accounts for about 1.3% of global oil reserves and 2.3% of world crude output, produced 96.9 million metric tons (710 million barrels) of oil in 2007 at its 361 deposits, with about 28,000 oil wells, located in West Siberia and the Urals.
The company spent around $6.6 billion on the development of oil deposits in 2007.
