Yukos 'has one month to pay bill'

Yukos has reportedly been given a month to settle a $3.4bn tax bill, easing fears the firm might soon be broken up.

Interfax news agency reported bailiffs as saying the firm had agreed to pay arrears for 2000 by the end of August, and had already paid 20% of the sum.

It had been feared that the authorities would enforce payment within days by selling off key assets, potentially forcing Yukos to file for bankruptcy.

Yukos shares were boosted by the news, rising 10% in early trading.

Market relief

According to Interfax, chief bailiff Andrei Belyakov's agreement with Yukos to pay the $3.4bn sum within a month followed a meeting with its vice-president Frank Rieger.

"Company representatives assured us that they will continue to discharge the debt and make everything possible to pay all the sum within a month," Mr Belyakov was quoted as saying.

Bailiffs had already collected 20% of the outstanding sum, Mr Belyakov told Interfax.

"Although the law sets no clear timeframe for discharging the debt, we, four our part, would like to expedite the process payments," he added.

However, Yukos would not confirm whether it had agreed a payment deadline.

"We have received no official notification from the Ministry of Justice that its position has changed," a company spokesman said. "Our position is that we are trying to pay the tax bill as quickly as possible."

Yukos had appeared on the edge of collapse on Wednesday when it appeared that a bailiffs order would prevent its subsidiaries producing or selling oil.

However, the order was subsequently found to apply only to the sale of fixed assets such as property.

Breathing space

The news that Yukos has seemingly won some breathing space in which to settle its debt cheered investors, which have been abandoning the stock in growing numbers over recent days.

Yukos shares rose 10% in early trading and were still 5% ahead by early afternoon.

Maxim Shein, an analyst at BrokerCreditService, told Reuters that Yukos might still be able to pay the debt without bailiffs having to sell its principal oil production unit, Yugansknefttegaz.


The unit accounts for 60% of Yukos' daily oil output of 1.7m barrels.

Yukos has said that its sale could force it to file for bankruptcy.

Potential dialogue

"The long awaited dialogue between Yukos and bailiffs has started and may set out a timetable for payments enabling Yukos to use revenue inflows to repay the state and fund current operations," Mr Shein said.

The Russian government is pursuing Yukos with a back tax claim of more than $7bn relating to payments which it claims the oil firm avoided in 2000 and 2001.

It could seek additional payments for 2002 and 2003.

Many observers see the state's pursuit of Yukos as a politically motivated campaign by the Kremlin to destroy the company and its founder, Mikhail Khodorkovksy.

Mr Khodorkovsky and former Yukos associate Platon Lebedev are currently standing trial on charges of fraud and tax evasion.



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