"In this particular instance, responsibility for Yukos production belongs to the state. It should be a priority government duty to ensure unhampered managerial work. The steadier it is the less claims will be coming up," he said to a news conference in Moscow today.
Just how can the state keep afloat a company after it announced that it was on the bankruptcy brink, Novosti asked Mr. Shafranik.
"It is hard to give advice in this situation. As I saw the matter, July last, the government was not to sell off Yukos assets but appoint a receiver, what with back taxes. Now, I haven't the slightest idea what can be done about it," he said.
Mr. Shafranik does not think anyone can be held responsible for the petroleum mammoth crisis, or can assume settling the matter, though the matter certainly demands one.
It is pointless, as he sees it, to auction off the Yuganskneftegas, biggest Yukos production branch. Mr. Shafranik roughly evaluates the Yugansk at US$15 to 25 billion.
The industrialist leader intends to get down, some ten years later, to writing reminiscences. The story of Yukos privatisation will be notable in the book, as it concerns what is, for today, Russia's largest oil company. "You'll know everything there is to know when I'm through with the book and you read it," he remarked.
