Mysterious interest of Tatneft

A potential sale of a 49-percent stake in Slovak Transpetrol, a.s. owned by Russian company Yukos is according to Russian President Vladimir Putin exclusively an internal affair of Yukos. Yukos did not acquire the stake directly but through its Dutch daughter company Yukos Finance B.V. that is out reach of jurisdiction of Russian courts. Therefore the Transpetrol shares have not been blocked as most of the remaining assets of Yukos. According to information provided by sources from inside the company, Yukos does not plan to sell its Transpetrol shares so far. And those remembering the details of privatization agreement signed between Slovakia and Yukos know that it could do so either. One of the provisions of the contract stipulates that Yukos must not sell the shares to a third party for at least 5 years. But during his visit to Bratislava President Putin informed Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda that three Russian companies were interested in purchasing the stake. After his meeting with Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic he even announced the name of one of the potential investors - company Tatneft resident in Russian Tatar