CHEVRON TEXACO, the US oil giant, is preparing to take a strategic stake in Yukos, the Russia oil company at the centre of a row with the Putin administration.
The US company’s offer to take a 25 per cent holding in the Russian group follows speculation that a planned merger between Yukos and Sibneft, a rival Siberian oil company, could collapse.
Chevron’s move, which could lead to a £4 billion deal, is the latest approach to Yukos from the American group, which has been trying to gain a foothold in the fast-growing Russian industry for some time.
Oil industry observers believe that the Russian Government will try to stop the Sibneft merger through competition laws. A $1 billion (£620 million) bond that Yukos was to launch this summer to pay for the merger has already been delayed.
A merger between Yukos and Sibneft would reinforce the influence of Yukos, Russia’s biggest company, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, its chief executive and Russia’s wealthiest man. Chevron is thought to be waiting in the wings until the uncertainty over Yukos and Sibneft is resolved.
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The row between Mr Khodorkovsky and Russian officials has also left investors nervous. In the past three weeks about $20 billion has been wiped from the value of the Russian market.
Chevron Texaco said that it did not comment on speculation.
Other Western oil companies, including Total Fina Elf and Exxon Mobil, have been looking to do deals or lose out in the race to develop Russia’s vast oil and gas resources. BP earlier this year invested £4 billion in a new joint venture company with TNK.