In another blow for the shattered Russian oil giant Yukos, a Moscow court has ordered a freeze of the main assets still held by the company in response to a lawsuit brought by the firm's former core production unit, company officials said yesterday.
State-run oil producer Rosneft, which now owns the former Yukos unit Yuganskneftegaz, is claiming 163 billion rubles (US$5.9 billion) from Yukos in damages for allegedly paying artificially low prices for crude supplies from the oil-pumping facility.
"We are aware of the ruling," said Yukos spokesman Yevgeny Fokin, adding that he did not have details of the court decision.
The Moscow Arbitration Court issued the ruling, which bars Yukos from disposing of shares in its major remaining subsidiaries including its top two oil production units Tomskneft and Samaraneftegaz and its main refinery, Angarsk, on April 5, the Interfax news agency said.
The ruling did not appear to affect bank accounts held by Yukos and does not cover Yukos' controlling stake in Lithuania's sole refinery, Mazeikiu Nafta, which Russia's No. 1 oil company, Lukoil, is negotiating to purchase, according to Interfax. The Moscow arbitration court is due to examine the damages claim next month.
Yuganskneftegaz, the former crown jewel in the Yukos empire, was sold off in a disputed auction last December against Yukos' US$28 billion back-tax bills. The 1 million-barrel-a-day unit was eventually bought by Rosneft.
The acquisition of Yukos' main oil unit catapulted Rosneft into the ranks of the top five Russian oil producers and stripped Yukos of around 60 percent of its oil production capacity.
The oil company, once the top Russian oil producer, has been dismantled after an onslaught from the state that observers have linked to the political ambitions of its jailed founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky. He is awaiting a verdict next Wednesday in his trial on fraud and tax evasion and faces up to 10 years in prison.
Rosneft alleges that the unit's former owners mismanaged the facility and are also pressing for Yukos to pay the US$5.1 billion that Russia's tax authorities say Yuganskneftegaz owes.
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