MECHEL ANNOUNCES PROLONGATION OF GAZPROMBANK’S CREDIT FACILITIES
Moscow, Russia –March 04, 2010 – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading
Russian mining and metals companies, announces prolongation of credit facilities
for its subsidiaries obtained earlier from Gazprombank.
In February 2009 Gazprombank opened credit lines totaling $1billion for Mechel
Mining’s subsidiaries (Mechel Mining is a part of Mechel Group). The credit
facilities provided were used to finance the group’s current operations which
allowed it to repay a part of its short-term debt.
Mechel Mining’s subsidiaries and Gazprombank signed amendment agreements to the
credit facility agreements. According to the amendment agreements the credit
maturity extends from three years to six years. Additionally, the parties have
agreed to reduce both the interest rate and the security amount. Repayment of
the credit body will start in three years and will be made by equal installments
on a quarterly basis.
Mr. Stanislav Ploschenko, Mechel’s Chief Financial Officer, commented,
“Gazprombank and Mechel have strong ties through a well-established
long-standing partnership, and signing of this agreement adds more to our
successful cooperation.  This decision has allowed us to fully stabilize the
company’s financial position in terms of debt repayment structure by creating a
substantial safety cushion while the financial market is still volatile. It will
help us focus further solely on our investment projects, which will considerably
boost the profitability of our business and enhance the company’s investment
attractiveness”.
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Mechel OAO
Alexander Tolkach
Phone: + 7 495 221 88 88
Alexander.Tolkach@mechel.com

PR Department of Gazprombank (OJSC)
Phone: +7 (495) 332 77 81, +7 (495) 719 15 50
E-mail: pr@gazprombank.ru

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Mechel is one of the leading Russian companies. Its business includes four
segments: mining, steel, ferroalloy and power. Mechel unites producers of coal,
iron ore concentrate, nickel, steel, rolled products, hardware, heat and
electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.
Gazprombank (Open Joint-Stock Company) is one of the leaders of the banking
sector, which key performance indicators place the Bank among the top three
banks of Russia and the fifth among the largest banks of the Central and Eastern
Europe. .
Gazprombank as universal financial institution delivers a wide range of banking
and investment services to about 45,000 corporate and 3 million private clients.

At present, Gazprombank operates 8 subsidiary and affiliated banks in Russia,
Belarus, Armenia and Switzerland,  representative offices in China and Mongolia,
and  43 own branches across Russia.
Gazprombank was twice awarded by The Banker Magazine as “The Bank of the Year in
Russia” in 2001 and 2005.

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Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other
forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial
performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S.
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that
these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may
differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to
the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and
identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned
“Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in our
Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those
contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among
others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and
synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the
ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of
developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment,
volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial
risk management and the impact of general business and global economic
conditions.