 |
|
*By TODD NOGIER, BUSINESS EDITOR*
Tyumen Oil Co. vowed yesterday it will lay off no one and will continue paying taxes from a Siberian joint venture whose ownership is the subject of an ugly international dispute with a Calgary company.
Tyumen officials said all crude produced from the Yugraneft project in western Siberia will be sold at market prices, and denied reports it ordered gunmen to storm Calgary-based Norex Petroleum's Russian offices and forced workers to leave.
**BITTER OWNERSHIP BATTLE**
"Contrary to media reports, Tyumen Oil has not used force to take over Yugraneft, no workers are being prevented from doing their jobs and normal oil production is continuing," the company said in a statement.
Norex is embroiled in a bitter battle with Tyumen - Russia's fourth-largest oil company - over control of the joint venture.
Norex executive Alex Rotzang even unsuccessfully pleaded with Prime Minister Jean Chretien to ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene.
Norex claims to have 98% ownership of Yugraneft - which produces 10,000 barrels a day of crude - a position that hasn't been recognized by a Russian court.
Tyumen said it has "strictly adhered to court decisions and the Russian legal code in its attempts to resolve the ownership dispute, even though Norex has violated four court decisions dating back to 1999, Russia's Constitution and several provisions of the country's civil legal code."
|
|
 |
