Pressure on Yukos growing

The fate of the Russian oil concern Yukos seems to be sealed. The former rising star of the Russian energy firmament seems to be dying under the pressure of local state administration. Tax arrears, the fact that the owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky was jailed and the company placed under forced administration reflects the conflict between business and political interests in Russia. And the conflict also has an impact on Slovakia. In the portfolio of Yukos Finance, the Dutch subsidiary of Yukos, are assets that are very attractive for Russian oil concerns. One of them is the Slovak operator of the Druzba pipeline, Transpetrol. Yukos Finance owns 49% of the company's shares. Last year, the company signed a contract with the Russian oil company Russneft on the sale of the stake for 103 mil. USD. According to a contract signed in 2002 that stipulated the conditions under which the Slovak state sold the Transpetrol shares to Yukos for the next 5 years such a step has to be approved by the Ministry of Economy. The Dutch company can also sell the shares without such an approval but then it has to pay a penalty fine. In such a case Slovakia would get 50% of the original amount, i.e. 37 mil. USD. (author)