[Excerpt: Keeping Yuganskneftegas as a separate entity may be a way to avoid litigation by Yukos' shareholders.....Yukos has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US and a judge issued an injunction against Gazprom, barring it from taking part in last week's state auction.] _http://212.58.240.132/1/hi/business/4134769.stm_ (http://212.58.240.132/1/hi/business/4134769.stm) Last Updated: Thursday, 30 December, 2004, 15:35 GMT Chinese may get Yukos oil stake
China's state-owned oil company CNPC may get a 20% stake in Yukos' former oil production unit, Russia's Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko has said. Yuganskneftegas was sold for $9.4bn to state oil firm Rosneft a week ago to help pay off Yukos' massive tax bill. Mr Khristenko said that Yuganskneftegas would function as a separate entity and would not be part of a planned merger between Rosneft and Gazprom. China's demand for oil has helped send oil prices to record highs this year. Deal with China Russia may buy CNPC's assets in third countries as well as in China as part of Thursday's deal, said Mr Khristenko in a statement. The main incentive behind this move is to protect both Gazprom and Rosneft from legal risks Steven Dashevsky, Atom analyst "These agreements are part of strategic agreements between the Russian and Chinese leadership on the expansion of their partnership in the energy sector," he added. The latest announcement comes after more than a year of wrangling which has pushed Yukos, one of Russia's biggest companies, to the brink of collapse. The Russian government put Yukos' Yuganskneftegas subsidiary up for sale after hitting the company with a $27bn (£14bn) bill for back taxes and fines. Keeping Yuganskneftegas as a separate entity may be a way to avoid litigation by Yukos' shareholders. Yukos has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US and a judge issued an injunction against Gazprom, barring it from taking part in last week's state auction. "The main incentive behind this move is to protect both Gazprom and Rosneft from legal risks," said Steven Dashevsky, an oil analyst at the Aton brokerage. "The sale of the stake to a foreign partner could also partly help Russia legitimise the nationalisation of Yuganskneftegas in the eyes of the international community." Last week, it emerged that Rosneft had bought Baikal, the mystery winner of the Yukos auction. Analysts believe the tax dispute between the Russian government and Yukos is partly driven by Russian President Vladimir Putin's hostility to the political ambitions of ex-Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Mr Khodorkovsky is in jail on charges of fraud and tax evasion. "Unfortunately, the whole mess that is the Yukos affair seems destined to spill over into 2005," said Matthew Thomas, an oil analyst at Alpha Bank. enditem [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
