Oil giant Yukos has accounts unfrozen

Russian oil giant Yukos has been told its bank accounts are no longer frozen, giving it access to cash and helping it to stay afloat and make good on the massive back-tax bills it faces.

The Russian Justice Ministry’s bailiffs service told Yukos that it can use its accounts to make monthly payments to cover current operations “as the accounts of Yukos in credit organisations are not blocked”.

Yukos managers had been warning that unless the company gained access to accounts it said were frozen around the beginning of July, it could be forced to halt operations and be driven out of business.

“We welcome the decision of the Justice Ministry,” the Yukos statement quoted chief financial officer Bruce Misamore as saying.

He said it would allow Yukos to make uninterrupted payments of current taxes, as well as payments on its €3bn back-tax bill for 2000, and to “continue financing production activities”.

“This, no doubt, is good news for our several hundred thousand workers and their family members,” he said.

Late last month, chief executive Steven Theede said restricted access to cash meant that Yukos might be unable to fund its operating expenses and pay bills in the first half of August.