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China is planning to underline its growing corporate ambitions by putting in a $9bn (£4.8bn) bid to buy Russia's key oil-producing firm.
The state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation has signalled to the Kremlin it wants to take part in the December 19 auction of Yugansk - a key part of Yukos.

CNPC declined to comment, but Russian newspaper Vedomosti quoted a highly placed Kremlin source confirming that the Chinese were potential bidders.

Yugansk is being sold off on the orders of the tax authorities, who have slapped a huge bill on Yukos. The company was established by the jailed oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

However, it is thought that Russian president Vladimir Putin wants local gas giant Gazprom, not CNPC, to win control of Yugansk.

"After all the trouble Putin has gone through to cut down the power of Yukos and Khodorkovsky, he is unlikely to give it away to the Chinese," said one source in Moscow.

"He will want to tighten his grip on the oil sector by giving it to someone he can trust, such as Gazprom."

The Russian economy minister, German Gref, said on Monday that no local company is capable of buying Yugansk on its own, raising speculation that Gazprom might bid with a foreign firm such as Germany's E.ON, Italy's ENI or even Shell.

· BP announced last night that it had sold its 10.3% stake in the Ormen Lange gas field in Norway for $1.2bn to Dong of Denmark. This was considerably higher than the $600m to $800m that many had predicted.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/s...358155,00.html

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