Russian state oil firm Rosneft has won a court ruling to impound the remaining key assets of oil firm Yukos in a move likely to speed up the carve-up of what is left of Russia's once most profitable firm. Shares in Yukos fell 7 percent on the MICEX bourse on Tuesday after the company said the Moscow Arbitration Court had slapped a freeze on two oil units, Samara and Tomsk, and two of its five Russian refineries, Syzran and Angarsk.
Tim Osborne, managing director of main Yukos shareholder Menatep, said seizures of remaining Yukos assets by the state could be imminent.
"As to the timetable of further asset sales, nobody knows. They could happen as early as tomorrow - it all depends on when the Russian government decides to renationalise the remaining Yukos assets."