SHOTLIST 1. Tilt down exterior Yukos building in Moscow 2. Entrance and sign saying "Yukos" 2. Media 3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Steven Theede, Yukos Chief Executive Officer: "If things go wrong and we basically run out of cash and can't continue to fund our operations, then certainly we are put in an insolvency situation and insolvency can lead to bankruptcy." 4. Media 5.SOUNDBITE: (English) Steven Theede, Yukos Chief Executive Officer: "We can't sell assets, we can't liquidate assets to pay the amount due, because they're frozen. And because of the uncertainty over future tax liabilities, financial institutions are not willing to talk to us about increasing our debt, which would be another normal way of raising cash. So it puts us in a very precarious position in terms of the ability to raise cash for the 3.4 (b) billion dollar assessment." 6. Management panel 7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Steven Theede, Yukos Chief Executive Officer: "Loss of Yugans (Yuganskneftegaz) would be a very serious blow to the company and would certainly put our ability to continue, as a growing concern, under question." 8. Media 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Steven Theede, Yukos Chief Executive Officer: "If we can't pay our pipeline tariffs for September, then Transneft (state-owned pipeline operator) has said that they would continue to transport all of our oil and export our crude oil, so long as we were paying tariffs. If we are unable to do that, then at least Yukos crude oil wouldn't be moving through those pipelines." 10. Media STORYLINE The Yukos oil company warned on Thursday that a state-forced sale of a daughter company to pay Yukos' gigantic back taxes bill could force Russia's largest oil producer to file for bankruptcy. The statement followed this week's announcement by bailiffs that Yuganskneftegaz, Yukos' largest production unit, was being readied for sale. Yukos owes the government 99.4 (b) billion rubles (3.4 (b) billion US dollars) in back taxes for the year 2000 and says it does not have enough ready cash to pay the bill. Selling off Yuganskneftegaz would significantly reduce Yukos' revenues and "in this way, even if the current liquidity crisis is overcome ... the company may be forced to file for bankruptcy and face the impossibility of fulfilling export contracts," the company statement said. Yukos shares dropped some 12 percent in trading in Moscow within minutes after the company statement. The company also faces a tax claim of 99 (b) billion rubles (3.3 (b) billion US dollars) for 2001 and further large bills are expected. Yukos, which is blocked by court order from selling assets itself in order to meet the tax payment, has sought compromises including being allowed to pay the 2000 bill over the course of three years. However, the government has shown no apparent willingness to compromise. At a news conference on Thursday, Yukos CEO Steven Theede told reporters that the freeze in assets and uncertainty over future tax liabilities was making it difficult for the company to raise cash. As to possible output reductions, Theede stated that Yukos has pre-paid tariffs to state-owned oil pipeline to transport oil in August. However, in case the company becomes insolvent, no Yukos oil will be transported via pipeline in September. The tax bill is part of a series of legal actions against Yukos and its former CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky that many analysts see as a Kremlin-initiated drive to punish Khodorkovsky for funding opposition political parties and to stifle his own presumed political ambitions. Khodorkovsky has been jailed since October on charges of fraud, forgery and tax evasion, and is currently on trial in Moscow. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/2d0798313225ab567733dc97e7c415c1 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

• published: 21 Jul 2015
• views: 8