MOSCOW, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Russia’s Rosneft said Monday it has applied to bid for an overseas arm of bankrupt oil giant Yukos.
The company did not say, however, whether the company involved in the auction will be its parent company or its subsidiary, Neft-Aktiv, which has experience participating in Yukos auctions, RIA Novosti reported. The Yukos asset involved is Netherlands-based Yukos Finance, which owns Yukos’ overseas assets.
The auction is to be held Aug. 15 and bids start at $298 million, RIA Novosti reported.
Yukos was once Russia’s largest oil company but was handed a huge tax bill that eventually led to it declaring bankruptcy. Critics said the company was targeted by the Kremlin because its owner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, had political ambitions. He is now serving an eight-year prison sentence in Siberia for fraud and tax evasion.
Since it declared bankruptcy two years ago, the company has been sold in pieces and most of its major oil and gas assets have been bought by state-controlled Rosneft.
