Kremlin Reasserts Hold on Russia's Oil and Gas

[Rose Siding]

MOSCOW, Dec. 16 - On Sunday, Russia plans to auction the jewel of what used to be its most profitable, high-profile and well-run private company: the oil giant Yukos. And if the auction takes place, the winner most likely will be a financially opaque, government-run natural gas behemoth, Gazprom.

Practically overnight, Russia and its president, Vladimir V. Putin, would create an energy company that not only controls about 20 percent of the nation's oil exports but also has some of the world's largest energy reserves.
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...But a ruling late Thursday in a federal bankruptcy court in Houston raised some questions about the participation in the auction of banks that were expected to finance the deal. A federal bankruptcy judge in Houston, Letitia Z. Clark, issued a temporary restraining order intended to block the participation of lenders. The banks, analysts said, have extensive operations in the United States and might be concerned about ignoring the restraining order.

In issuing the injunction, Judge Clark granted a request sought by the management of Yukos, which took the unusual step of filing for bankruptcy protection in Houston on Wednesday. The judge based her decision on testimony by Bruce Misamore, Yukos's chief financial officer and an American citizen, who said that investors in the United States stood to suffer from the auction.

http://nytimes.com/2004/12/17/business/worldbusiness/17yukos.html?hp&ex=1103346000&en=cad95aa6acc68c40&ei=5094&partner=homepage