The Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft, new owner of the main production subsidiary of oil giant Yukos, Saturday announced a contract to supply China with 50 million tonnes of oil by 2010. Rosneft Vice-President Yury Matveyev announced the signature of the deal in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, ITAR-TASS news agency reported. It quoted him as saying deliveries would start on February 1 and reach a volume of four million tonnes next year.
Yukos, once Russia's largest oil exporter, is being dismantled by the government to pay off a 27 billion dollar tax bill - more than 10 times the company's current market capitalisation.
One of Russia's biggest business mysteries appeared closer to resolution Tuesday on a report that China could help Russia's state-controlled major Rosneft pay for the main Yukos subsidiary by offering a six billion dollar credit in return for oil.