The beleagured Russian oil giant Yukos has reportedly said it would file a $20-billion damage claim against the Russian government and other parties that had a hand in the forced auction of its chief production unit.

The claim would be lodged just ahead of a February 16 court hearing in Houston, Texas, on a bankruptcy petition by Yukos, the Financial Times has reported.
Yukos last month sought bankruptcy protection from a Houston court in a bid to thwart the auction of its core asset, Yuganskneftegaz, which had pumped millions of barrels per day for Yukos.
The unit had been siezed by the Russian government and put up for sale to help pay billions of dollars in back taxes that the state says it is owed by Yukos.
A previously unknown group, Baikalfinansgroup, bought Yugansknefetaz at a secretive auction on December 19 for $9.35 billion.
Another Russian oil company, Rosneft, which is soon to merge with state-controlled gas provider Gazprom to form a new state-run energy corporation, subsequently announced it had bought Baikalfinansgroup.
The controversial sale was denounced by Yukos and other critics who saw it as a transparent attempt to silence the political ambitions of its founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, currently on trial on fraud charges.
Yukos, according to the Financial Times, will add Rosneft, Gazprom, Gazpromneft and Baikalfinansgroup to its damage claim.
Meanwhile, Italian Industry Minister Antonio Marzano said in Abu Dhabi that Italian firms could be involved in the second stage of a shakeup of the assets of Yukos.
“I do not exclude it,” Marzano said, when asked if Italian firms could be interested in Yukos assets in a second phase shakeup, following the sell-off of Yugansk.
Italy’s top oil firm, Eni, said in November it would not bid for Yugansk, but added that it could reconsider its position after the December 19 auction.
Sources close to the situation said at the time that political risks and fears of being caught in a messy court battle with Yukos shareholders would likely keep state-controlled Eni from bidding for Yukos assets.
Eni has long said it wants to become one of the top-tier oil groups, and it is targeting output of 1.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) by 2007, from 1.6 million boepd in the first nine months of 2004.