(Bidding for Yukos’ petrol station network is expected to start at about 7.7bn roubles (£150m)
By Russell Hotten
Last Updated: 12:39am BST 09/05/2007
Royal Dutch Shell and BP’s Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, are expected to join the auction for the petrol station network belonging to the collapsed oil company Yukos.
Tomorrow’s auction will revive memories of last month’s heavily criticised sell-off of Yukos’s 9.44pc stake in state-controlled Rosneft. TNK-BP took part in that auction, won by Rosneft, but was accused of only participating to appease the Kremlin. Moscow wanted the stake back in state control but needed another bidder to legitimise the sale process.
However, the petrol stations are not a strategic asset and their value is far less than the Yukos stake, sold for £3bn-plus. Bidding for the 537 stations is expected to start at about 7.7bn roubles (£150m).
Shell confirmed that it would take part. No one in TNK-BP’s Moscow office was available for comment, but Russian newspapers said the company would bid.
Yukos collapsed under the weight of back-tax claims – demands that critics say were politically motivated.
Meanwhile, BP has appointed L Duane Wilson, a former executive at ConocoPhillips, as the independent expert to monitor implementation of the Baker Panel’s recommendations to improve safety at the group’s five US refineries.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/05/09/cnyukos09.xml
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