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The rise and fall of Yukos: Russian oil empire dismantled
AFP
MOSCOW
Petroleumworld.com 05 10 07Twelve years after Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky bought a minor state oil holding and turned it into the vast Yukos energy empire, the main assets of the business have been sold.
Rosneft, a state-run oil major chaired by a top Kremlin official, has been the biggest beneficiary of the asset auctions and further bolstered its position on Thursday by buying Samaraneftegaz, a major production asset.
The sale also means that Yukos is in a position to pay fully billions of dollars in tax debts owed to the Russian state after a series of fraud inquiries that began in 2003, officials said.
The following is a timeline of Yukos' rise and fall:
1995: Menatep Bank, controlled by Khodorkovsky, buys 78 percent of Yukos for 309 million dollars (227 million euros) in a privatisation. Menatep increases the stake to 90 percent in December 1996 with an investment of 160 million dollars.
1998: Yukos overhauls its management and accounting practices. In 1999, the company becomes Russia's first oil company to adopt Western standards. The group grows rapidly and becomes the biggest producer in Russia.
2003:
May - Yukos and Sibneft, an oil firm then controlled by tycoon Roman Abramovich, announce plans for a merger to create a global energy major.
July - Platon Lebedev, head of Menatep, is arrested on charges of illegal trading of shares in the Apatit fertilizer company in 1994.
October - Khodorkovsky is arrested by armed FSB security officers on his jet in Novosibirsk. He is charged with massive tax evasion and embezzlement.
November: The Yukos-Sibneft merger is scrapped. Khodorkovsy resigns as CEO and is replaced by Steven Theede, formerly at US major ConocoPhillips.
2004:
May: A court orders Yukos to pay 3.4 billion dollars in back taxes for the year 2000. Tax authorities eventually demand a total of 28 billion dollars.
November: Theede and other Western and Russian managers flee Russia following intensifying inquiries into Yukos. Yukos management moves to London.
December: Rosneft purchases Yukos' main production facility, Yuganskneftegaz, in a highly opaque deal for 9.4 billion dollars.
2005: Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are sentenced to nine years in prison in May for financial crimes at the close of a trial condemned by critics as politically motivated. Their sentence is reduced to eight years after appeal.
2006:
March: A consortium of foreign banks files a bankruptcy request for Yukos to recoup their debts from the company. They then sell their debt to Rosneft.
July: A court-appointed bankruptcy administrator, Eduard Rebgun, says the company should be declared bankrupt. Creditors approve his estimation.
August: A Moscow commercial court declares Yukos bankrupt. Preparations begin for the sell-off of Yukos assets.
2007:
March: Rosneft buys 9.44 percent of its own shares from Yukos for 7.6 billion dollars.
April: Italian energy group ENI purchases Yukos assets for 5.81 billion dollars.
May: Rosneft buys key Yukos facilities in two auctions for a total of 13.2 billion dollars to become Russia's biggest producer.
AFP 10 0808 GMT 05 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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