Russia's biggest oil producer plans to place a second tranche of convertible bonds and the unsold remainder of a first early next year and make them available to foreign investors, a senior official said.


LUKoil vice president Leonid Fedun said the 140,000 bonds would be placed in the same way as the first tranche last month.


LUKoil last month sold 320,000 convertible bonds to foreign investors, out of 350,000 on offer, for around $320 million.


U.S. oil company Atlantic Richfield Co. said it bought 241,080 bonds, convertible into 6.3 percent of LUKoil's voting shares, for $250 million.


The second tranche of 110,000 was originally intended for Russian investors.


Fedun said LUKoil had decided to place the second tranche in the same way as the first as Russian banks were putting all the money they had into the government's shares-for-loans scheme.


"Perhaps we will make smaller lots, with bids not of $10 million but $1 million, so that Russian investors can take a more active part," Fedun said.


LUKoil is one of several Russian firms planning to issue American Depositary Receipts -- U.S.-listed certificates backed by Russian stock.


"Naturally, the absence of ADRs created problems with placing the bonds. Many investors declined to invest in them," Fedun said.


He said the company also planned to issue convertible bonds worth about $100 million to Russian citizens, Fedun said.


The bonds would have a nominal value of between 50,000 and 250,000 rubles and be convertible into LUKoil shares no earlier than 1998, Fedun said.


An official of the Nikoil financial consultancy, which holds LUKoil's share register, said LUKoil would offer 15.96 percent of its shares in an investment tender between Nov. 15 and Dec. 15.