TARGOVISTE, Romania, September 25 /PRNewswire/ --

Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals 
companies, announces that representatives of the international business 
community made a working visit to Mechel's Romanian steel subsidiary, 
Mechel Targoviste. The visit was arranged within the framework of the 10th 
Central and Eastern European Steel Conference.

The 10th Central and Eastern European Steel Conference, which took place
during September 18-20 in Bucharest, Romania, was organized by Metal
Bulletin, one of the major international publishers in metal industry. The
conference analyzed the development of steel markets and production in the
Central and Eastern European countries, the outlook for industry
consolidation, and investments in the development of distribution networks
and new technologies.

On the first day of the conference, Mechel Senior Vice President Victor
Trigubko presented Mechel's experience in extricating its Romanian steel
assets (Mechel Targoviste and Mechel Campia Turzii) from the heavy market
downswing and decapitalization to improve profitability and meet modern
requirements for production technology. These experiences, including
fulfillment of the privatization obligations ahead of schedule, were
acknowledged by the business community with operations in the region as
worthy of attention.

As part of the presentation, Mechel arranged a field trip for the
conference delegates to Mechel's Targoviste steel plant on September 20.
Attending delegates included approximately 40 businessmen, international and
local business media journalists, and representatives of the government
authorities including P. Ianc, General Director, General Directorate for
Industrial Policy and Competitiveness, Ministry of Economy and Finance; M.
Toader, General Director, General Division for European Affairs, Ministry of
Economy and Finance; M. Berinde, Deputy General Manager Romcontrol S.A.; M.
Nistor, Subprefect of Targoviste; M. Dobresku, General Manager of
Metallurgical Research Institute, Romania; and I. M. Sidorov, Counselor for
Commerce and Economics, Russian Embassy in Bucharest.

During the tour of the plant, its General Director, Vyacheslav Shmyga,
presented the projects already implemented at the plant including the
continuous casting machine with the capacity of 500 thousand tonnes a year
commissioned in March of this year; the upgraded complex of electric arc
furnace and small-section mill heating furnace; the medium-section mill to be
completely reconstructed in 2009; and other modern equipment. Mr. Shmyga
completed the plant tour with his description of the plant development
outlook and planned investments.

Mechel expects to invest approximately US$35.0 million to modernize 
Mechel Targoviste through 2011. The plan for 2007 includes an increase of 
the steel output and sales to more than 480 thousand tonnes and about 440 
thousand tonnes, respectively. In line with the objectives of Mechel's 
capital investment program, significant investments will be made in 
arrangements to reduce production costs and increase steel quality at 
Mechel's steel subsidiaries.

Mechel is one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies. Mechel
unites producers of coal, iron ore, nickel, steel, rolled products, and
hardware. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.

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.