Russian oil company and American debtor-in-possession OAO Yukos filed a lawsuit seeking damages of $20 billion late Friday in Houston against Russian natural gas giant OAO Gazprom, its unit Gazpromneft, Baikal Finance and OAO Rosneft for playing a role in the Russian government’s auction of Yukos’ valuable Yugansk unit. Here are the prior posts on the Yukos saga.
In addition to the lawsuit, Yukos filed an outline of its chapter 11 plan of reorganization just days before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Letitia Clark will conduct a hearing on Gazprom’s motion to dismiss Yukos’ chapter 11 case for lack of jurisdiction.
Yukos filed its chapter 11 case in Houston in an effort to block the Russian government from auctioning off its main asset — the valuable Siberian oil production unit Yugansk — to collect on $28 billion in alleged unpaid taxes. Despite the automatic stay under the Bankruptcy Code and a temporary restraining order that Judge Clark issued before the auction, the Russian government proceeded to auction the Yugansk unit, with an unknown Russian company, Baikal Finance Group, being the winning bidder. Baikal was subsquently acquired by Russian state oil company OAO Rosneft, which effectively effectively nationalized the valuable Yugansk unit.
In the meantime, Yukos’s main shareholder, Group Menatep Ltd., has commenced similar litigation last week seeking $28.3 billion against the Russian government under the international arbitration provisions of the the European Energy Charter Treaty, which protects investors from unfair treatment.