Yukos warns oil production could be halted in days

Yukos warns oil production could be halted in days: Interfax

Moscow (Platts)--28Jul2004


Russian oil major Yukos could be forced to stop pumping oil within just a few
days, the company has warned the country's justice minister, Interfax reported
Wednesday. 

In a letter to Yuri Chaika and Vladimir Zhmyachkin, head of the
court bailiffs service, the company said the freeze imposed on its assets in
connection with the $3.4-bil tax bill that the firm faces from the 2000 tax
year meant it would become impossible for its production subsidiaries to
continue supplying oil. "Subsidiary companies of Yukos may be forced to stop
production of oil within a few days," Intrefax said in a report citing the
letter. 

The warning follows that of Yukos chief executive Stephen Theede, who
said Tuesday that the company had made payments for its rail exports only as
far forward as the first week in August. Yukos' warnings that it could be
forced to halt exports are becoming increasingly frequent, as the company
attempts to push the government into allowing it access to funds in frozen and
blocked bank accounts.

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