Russia's Rosneft buys Yukos unit

Russia's state-owned Rosneft said it will take over Yuganskneftegaz - the main production unit of Yukos Oil Company, the exporter of 11% of the nation's crude oil.

According to a report on the website of Bloomberg, Rosneft will pay an undisclosed sum to Baikal Finance Group, which won the $9.34 billion auction for Yuganskneftegaz on December 19, Rosneft spokesman Alexander Stepanenko said in a telephone interview today.

The government had seized and auctioned the unit, which pumps 1.1 million barrel of oil per day, to help recover more than $23 billion in back taxes from Yukos, the report said.

The purchase by Rosneft tightens President Vladimir Putin's grip on the oil industry in a nation that lags only Saudi Arabia in output, the report said. Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer, is planning to buy Rosneft.

"The purchase is part of Rosneft's plan to transform the company into a balanced national energy corporation by developing production in Siberia, the Russian Far East and European Russia,'' Stepanenko said.