MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow's Arbitration Court granted Yuganskneftegaz's motion to increase the amount of its claim against Yukos from $5.68 billion to $7.87 billion Tuesday.
The court also approved Yuganskneftegaz's petition to conduct an expert analysis of oil market prices from 1999 to 2003.
The scheduled court hearings on the case have been postponed until August 23, 2005.
Earlier, a Yuganskneftegaz representative told the judges that the company suffered financial losses because Yukos had sold oil below market prices from 1999-2003.
Yukos lawyers presented a counter-motion asking the court to dismiss the claim, but the court decided to postpone hearings on the issue.
In the beginning of March, Yuganskneftegaz hit Yukos with financial claims amounting to more than $10.58 billion. Of this amount, $5.68 billion allegedly constitutes the losses suffered by Yuganskneftegaz from 1999-2003.
Another $4.92 billion is the amount of losses related to Yuganskneftegaz's tax debt. A court case on this claim has been suspended until the rulings on other Yuganskneftegaz motions to negate any additional tax claims against the company for the period between 1999 and 2003 will have come in force.
Later, Yuganskneftegaz filed another claim in the amount of $2.17 billion for oil, which was supplied in the second half of 2004 by Yuganskneftegaz to Yukos, but was never paid for. The Moscow arbitration court granted these motions on May 13, 2004 and an appeals court sustained them on July 14.
