The Russian oil giant Yukos said on Sunday that it would immediately reduce some of its rail exports of crude oil to China. It appears to be the first time that Yukos' ability to transport oil has been affected by its tax dispute with the Russian government, which has frozen most of its bank accounts.
An unnamed Yukos spokesman told Interfax, the government-controlled news agency: "Yukos will resume its exports to China fully the moment it regains access to its accounts, frozen by the Justice Ministry. We hope that the Russian government correctly understands the great importance of Russian oil exports to the world market and will take measures to ensure uninterrupted supplies of oil to our Chinese partners."
The Yukos spokesman told Interfax that the company's board had decided to suspend oil exports, calling it a temporary measure. No one at Yukos could be reached for comment late Sunday evening.
Yukos is Russia's main supplier of oil to China. The cut, of about 100,000 barrels a day, is not huge, but warnings by the company in the past have caused oil prices to rise.
Yukos was the first Russian company to agree to supply China with oil, angering President Vladimir Putin, who views the allocation of Russian oil exports as a decision for the government to make. In recent months, Russia has tried to reassure China that oil will keep flowing. Last month, the Russian prime minister, Mikhail Fradkov, noted that Russia had many other oil companies that could fill any export gap left by Yukos.
Yukos' founder and former chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was arrested last October. He is on trial on charges that include tax evasion and fraud.
The company, which faces back taxes of more than US$7 billion, warned on Friday that it remained firmly on the edge of bankruptcy.
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