A little company called Baikal Finance Group has bought Yukos’ main production unit Yuganskneftegas for $9.4bn at an auction held over the weekend. Yukos reacted by threatening legal action against the firm.
Analysts believe that Baikal Finance Group may be linked to state-owned Gazprom. Gazprom had been expected to win the auction, but was barred from seeking international finance when a US court ruled it an illegal contender for the bid.
"They screwed up the financing," said Ronald Smith, an analyst at Renaissance Capital in Moscow. "And Gazprom doesn't have this sort of money lying around."
Gazprom has denied that it is behind the purchase.
"It is a front for somebody but not necessarily for Gazprom," said Oleg Maximov, an analyst at Troika Dialog in Moscow. "We don't know if this company is linked 100% to Gazprom.”
Yukos, whose senior executives have left Russia in recent weeks after a number of company employees were arrested, is preparing for a legal battle. “The company considers that the victor of today's auction has bought itself a serious $9bn headache," said Yukos spokesman Alexander Shadrin.