Yukos says hit with new Russian tax bill of $3.5-bil for 2004

New York (Platts)--18Jan2006

Russian tax authorities have hit Yukos with a new tax bill, this time for
RU107-bil ($3.5-bil), the once powerful Russian oil company said Wednesday.

     Yukos, in a statement, said the latest tax bill, which follows an audit
of the company's books for 2004, was served on the company Dec 27, 2005.

     "The claim states that underpayment of taxes, duties and levies amounts
to RUR54-bil, penalties amount to RUR42-bil and surcharges are in the order of
RUR11-bil," the company said. The claim for non-paid taxes within the total
assessment is just RUR3-bil, but the major portion of the bill, some
RUR51-bil, was linked to "alleged non-payment of VAT on export revenues from
the sale of crude oil and refined products by trading companies," it added.

     Yukos said the Russian tax agency has deemed the trading companies as
affiliated with the parent, with their revenues thus automatically added to
that of Yukos.

     The company said that the methodology used by the tax authorities to
calculate tax for OAO NK Yukos in 2004 resulted in the parent company being
charged 8RUR of taxes per 1RUR of revenue. "The calculation applied to OAO NK
Yukos does not, however, include additional fines, penalties and surcharges,"
it noted. If they were, each ruble of revenue results in a tax exposure of
15.5 rubles, it noted.

     Yukos said that it would "continue to take all appropriate steps" under
both Russian and international law to protect fight the latest taxes.

     With several of its founders in jail following convictions in Russian
courts, and with its main producing asset long ago stripped away, the company
still is both an oil producer and refiner of oil products. The company 
previously forecast average oil output of 455,000 b/d in 2005, and its
refining operations produce about 645,000 b/d of products, primarily to the
domestic market.

		--Robert DiNardo, robert_dinardo@platts.com

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