Russia's Federal Energy Agency, worried that the giant Yukos oil company might be forced to cut exports due to a cash crunch, said yesterday it would ask court bailiffs to unblock accounts frozen because of huge tax arrears.
"It is not possible for a big company to exist without financing for its operations," said Mr Sergei Oganesyan, head of the agency, which is part of a newly created super-ministry for Energy and Industries.
The comments by Russia's number two oil official mark the first public sign of differences within the government over the handling of Yukos, which has lost two-thirds of its value since April as investors are increasingly unsure of the firm's fate.
"We are raising the issue of unblocking Yukos accounts in order to make minimal payments. Our aim is to prevent the stoppage of wells, since Yukos is now 20 per cent of our output and other companies could not pick up the slack," Oganesyan told reporters.
"Up to 35 million tonnes a year (700,000 barrels per day), including supplies to China, could in theory not reach the world markets," he said, without explaining his calculations.
Yukos produces 1.7 million bpd - as much as Libya - and exports more than one million bpd.
Fears of a disruption to exports after bailiffs seized Yukos's accounts to guarantee payment of a $3.4 billion (€2.78 billion) tax bill have helped push oil prices to record highs in recent days.
Russia depends heavily on energy exports and every spike in oil prices brings millions of dollars of extra budget revenues.
Traders are mainly worried about Yukos's rail shipments of around 300,000 bpd stopping. The bulk of Yukos's output goes by pipeline through pipeline firm Transneft.
Yukos says it has paid fees to keep Transneft piping its oil until the end of August. The state railway company said on Monday that Yukos had paid transport fees in time for a Tuesday deadline and it expected to keep Yukos oil moving toward ports.
But Oganesyan added that the main problem were not payments to Transneft or the railways, but to the customs.
