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Court of Amsterdam Rules to Sell Off Foreign YUKOS
The District Court of Amsterdam lifted yesterday, November 23, 2005, the ban on selling the assets of Dutch subsidiaries of YUKOS - Yukos Finance and Yukos International, where the 53.7 percent in Lithuanian Mazeikiu Nafta (MN) is the core asset. This stake is likely to be bought out by KazMunayGas, provided Kazakh Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov succeeds in persuading Russia to open the way for Kazakh crude to Lithuania.
The District Court of Amsterdam rejected yesterday the claim of Yuganskneftegaz to seize YUKOS foreign assets as coverage under the damage action. The defendants were Yukos Finance B.V. and Yukos International B.V.
MN includes the Baltic sole Mazeikiu refinery, an oil terminal and Birzu Naftotiekis pipeline enterprise. Lithuania owns 40.66 percent in MN.
KazMunayGas offered from $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion for the stake in MN sold by Lithuania, said a source with YUKOS, confirming the recent statement of Kazakh Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Vladimir Shkolnik, who claimed KazMunayGas had offered the best price for the stake. The source declined to specify the amounts offered by other bidders - TNK-BP, consortium of LUKOIL and ConocoPhillips and by Polish Orlen.
The tricky thing is that KazMunayGas has encountered a formidable obstacle when trying to clinch a deal for the stake in MN. Russia’s Transneft has closed the way for shipping Kazakh crude to Lithuania.
Therefore, exactly this problem is the most vital for Kazakhstan now. The last resort, perhaps, is today’s meeting of Kazakh PM Danial Akhmetov with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Fradkov. The positive outcome will materially strengthen Kazakh standing on negotiations for MN, as it will be able to firmly guarantee deliveries of crude to Lithuanian enterprise.
According to a source with YUKOS, Lehman Brothers that stands for YUKOS in talks for MN will proceed with consultations between the government of Lithuania and the bidders in the near term. In particular, the parties may discuss the terms for granting two options for buying out the MN stocks. Pursuant to the holders’ agreement between Lithuania and YUKOS, the oil company has an option for 11.5 percent and an option for 9.72 percent in MN.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 25, 2005
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