CROATIAN, RUSSIAN OIL COMPANIES SIGN LETTER OF INTENT

MOSCOW, April 18 (Hina) - The Russian and Croatian oil companies TNK and INA on Thursday signed a letter of intent on the clinching of a deal for a joint venture on the White Nights oil fields in Siberia within two months, Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Slavko Linic said in Moscow on Thursday. #L# The deal is an attempt to settle certain misunderstandings and perhaps improve work on the White Nights fields, said Linic. Under the contract, 51 percent of White Nights shares would go to TNK, Russia's third largest oil company. INA's management had said previously the possibility of selling White Nights was being negotiated with the Russian partners owing to red tape business hurdles and difficulties in accessing the main pipeline from western Siberia to a Black Sea terminal. (hina) ha sb