OREANDA-NEWS. August 06, 2010. A small fire last night disrupted operations at the Moscow oil refinery (MNPZ), which is controlled by Gazprom neft, Interfax reported. According to reports, the fire emerged in one of the primary distillation columns, more precisely, in a transfer pump. Reportedly, no serious damage of the distillation column occurred in this accident. According to a representative of the refinery, the plant rapidly resumed normal operations, reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE Financial Corporation.

View: We believe this accident will not impact on MNPZ throughput or output volumes in 3Q10. Therefore, we see no risk for Gazprom neft shares arising from the fire.

Valuation and Action: Gazprom neft trades on a 2010 EV/EBITDA of 5.5x. We reiterate our HOLD rating on Gazprom neft with a target price of USD5.90/share.