"Yuganskneftegaz received claims from several western creditors insisting that the company must pay off the debt in the amount of $500 million," a Rosneft official told RIA Novosti.
Western creditors gave Yukos a syndicated credit in the amount of $1 billion using Yuganskneftegaz assets as a guarantee.
Rosneft owns a controlling stock in Yuganskneftegaz.
"Yuganskneftegaz has a very complex loan portfolio. At present, Rosneft and Yuganskneftegaz are holding talks with creditors on the subject of legitimacy of current claims against the Russian companies and further settlement of the situation on the basis of common business practices," a Rosneft official underlined.
The day before, head of the Russian Federal Agency on Energy Sergei Oganesyan announced that Rosneft would conduct negotiations with creditors about the restructuring of Yuganskneftegaz debts.
Earlier, a Rosneft official told RIA Novosti that the company would assume the obligations of the former Yukos main production unit according to Russian legislation and international law.
"We are fully aware of all risks related to the purchase of Yuganskneftegaz, including the possibility of claims against our company and the heavy debt burden accumulated by Yuganskneftegaz. We calculated all risks and included them in the value of the purchased asset as well as in the future volume of investment in the production output of Yuganskneftegaz," the Rosneft official announced.
Yuganskneftegaz served as a underwriter for a syndicated loan in the amount of $1 billion given to Yukos by a consortium of western banks and a loan in the amount of $1.6 billion given by the Menatep Group.
Societe Generale S.A. acts as a coordinating bank, an agent and an authorized arranger of the syndicated loan in the amount of $1 billion. Other authorized arrangers of the loan are Citibank N.A., Commerzbank AG, Credit Lyonnais S.A., Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Bank Plc, ING Bank N.V., KBC Bank N.V., BNP Paribas, and UFJ Bank Nederland N.V.
On December 23, Rosneft announced the acquisition of the Baikal Finance Group, which earlier had purchaseed 76.79% of Yuganskneftegaz shares during an auction for 260 billion and 753 million rubles. On December 31, Rosneft announced that it had finalized the purchase of Yuganskneftegaz - Yukos main production unit.
