"We are going to be closely involved in acquiring new deposits in the Timano-Pechora [oil] province, East Siberia and [Russia's] Far East," Vagit Alekperov said, adding the company was also interested in downstream assets in Europe.
He also said the company has abandoned plans to build a new refinery in Russia, deciding instead to boost the refining capacity of its facilities in Volgograd and Nizhny Novgorod by 30%.
LUKoil said earlier Wednesday it plans to boost its oil refining capacity by more than 70% in 2007-10, to 2 million barrels per day.
The company said the share of oil refined in Russia will fall from 70% to 56%, while overseas capacities will raise their share significantly.
LUKoil will also continue to pursue extensive modernization programs, aiming to produce higher value-added and more environmentally friendly products.
LUKoil sold 62.3 million tons of crude oil and petroleum products in the first half of 2006, a 6.7% increase, year-on-year. Retail sales of petroleum products increased 8.3%, while earnings from retail sales grew $1.2 billion (34.2%).
