Yukos' US shelter bid is thrown out

Published on Friday 25 February 2005 12:03

YUKOS, the Russian oil giant, has lost its bid for shelter in American courts after a Texan judge dismissed its bankruptcy case.

Yukos had filed for Chapter 11 protection in Houston in an attempt to halt the auction of its Yugansk division by the Russian authorities.

The judge said the firm did not have enough of a presence in the United States to establish American jurisdiction over a Russian company.

"The vast majority of the business and financial activities of Yukos continue to occur in Russia," Judge Letitia Clark said.

"Such activities require the continued participation of the Russian government."

Yukos spokesman Mike Lake said the company’s law firm, Fulbright & Jaworski, had not decided whether to appeal or ask the judge to reconsider her ruling.

The company’s only US operations are the business that finance chief Bruce Misamore conducts from his Houston home and two bank accounts - one to cover Mr Misamore’s expenses and the other to cover legal costs.

Yukos claimed the auction of the Yugansk arm capped an 18-month Kremlin-driven crackdown to damage the company and punish its former chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, now on trial on tax charges, for backing opposition parties.

• US oil prices held above $51 a barrel in pre-lunch trading today as Opec appeared increasingly at ease with higher prices.