Oil giant BP’s flagship Russian joint venture TNK-BP is not planning to bid in any potential auction of Yukos’ assets, the Financial Times reported the venture’s chairman as saying.

“We (TNK-BP) are satisfied with the assets we have,” Mikhail Fridman, the head of the Alfa group, the Russian shareholder in TNK-BP, was quoted in the Financial Times as saying.
“We don’t think it (legal action against Yukos) was legally pure and transparent, so it is not in the interests of our shareholders,” he added.
Bailiffs collecting Yukos’ $7 billion tax debts have said they will sell Yugansk — responsible for over 60 per cent of the company’s oil output — and have commissioned bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein to value the unit.
That valuation is expected within days. A Reuters poll of analysts valued the subsidiary at $16 billion.
Analysts fear the state could revoke Yugansk’s key oil production licences to reduce the unit’s value ahead of a cut-price transfer into state hands.
Tax officials say Yugansk has failed to pay taxes, which is a basis under Russian law for the suspension and potential confiscation of production licences.
There is intense speculation as to who might buy Yugansk, or other Yukos assets, should they be offered for sale.