Investors were given a faint hope that Yukos might yet escape bankruptcy proceedings last month when Russian oil company Rosneft agreed to acquire $482 million of outstanding debt that Yukos owed to a consortium of international lenders.
The banks initiated bankruptcy proceedings early in March but it became apparent several days later that an agreement dating from December covered Rosneft’s assumption of the debt.
Rosneft had bought Yuganskneftegaz, Yukos’s key production asset, in December 2004 after it was seized by the...
