Analysts on YUKOS case

Statements made by Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation with &to=http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/89/355/14280_yukos.html' target=_blank>YUKOS gave a green light to Gazprom and Rosneft to buy the oil company's assets, Zenit Bank analyst Sergey Suverov believes. He called "pretty surprising" the statement of the President that state-owned companies could acquire YUKOS' assets because previously, &to=http://english.pravda.ru/comp/2002/08/22/35075.html' target=_blank>Gazprom head Alexey Miller and Rosneft President Sergey Bogdanchikov had denied the possibility of such acquisitions. At the same time, their point of view may change depending on the circumstances.

Analysts with the United Financial Group (UFG) consider Gazprom and &to=http://english.pravda.ru/comp/2002/01/16/25704.html' target=_blank>Rosneft to be obvious candidates for acquiring YUKOS' assets. Nevertheless, according to them, the main candidate for buying YUKOS' assets is still Surgutneftegas taking into account its loyalty to state authorities and the availability of the necessary funds. "We believe that other Russian companies do not have enough funds to buy such large YUKOS assets as Yuganskneftegaz, Samaraneftegaz and Tomskneft."