11-11-02 Russian oil major Sibneft and the Moscow city government have reached an agreement resolving the conflict around managing the Moscow Oil Refinery, an official with the refinery told. The agreement was reached during a meeting between Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and Roman Abramovich, who is one of Russia’s most influential business tycoons, the principal shareholder in Sibneft and the governor of the Chukotka Region.
The Moscow Oil Company, controlled by the Moscow city government, has a 38 % stake in the refinery’s capital through the Central Fuel Company and controls 50.66 % of voting shares.

Meanwhile, Sibneft and its ally Tatneft, another Russian oil major, own 38 % and 8 % respectively of the ordinary shares in the Moscow Oil Refinery, but control more than 55 % of the charter capital in the refinery through preferred shares.
The Moscow city government and the oil companies have been locked in a battle for control of the company and there are currently two different boards of directorsand two general directors at the refinery.

The older of the boards, elected this summer, consists mainly of representatives of the Central Fuel Company. The older board appointed Alexei Peshkov as general director on October 2 -- a move that was supported by Luzhkov. A newer board of directors, however, was elected at a September 27 shareholders’ meeting that the old board has declared was illegal. The newer board’s members represent Sibneft and Tatneft.
The two major shareholders have so far failed to reach a compromise decision on the refinery’s management. Since the summer, Sibneft has been repeatedly stopping oil supplies to the refinery on the grounds that it was finding it difficult to reach an agreement over supply quotas.