Slovakia wants to buy back pipeline stakes from Yukos

Slovakia is considering buying back the 49-% stake in oil transportation company Transpetrol that it sold to troubled Russian oil giant Yukos back in 2002. The news was announced on Nov. 8, by Slovakia’s Economy Minister Pavol Rusko.
"Slovakia will do all it can to take possession again of this part of Transpetrol," Rusko told in Bratislava, adding that the Slovak government has already entered into discussions with the Russian authorities on the issue.

While the stake in the oil transportation company belongs directly to Yukos, it has been arrested along with all of the oil company’s other assets and may not be sold without special permission from the Russian government.
The Slovak minister said that a letter regarding the issue had been sent to the Russian authorities earlier, and that talks should last for approximately two to three months.

Answering a question on the price that Slovakia was prepared to pay for the 49 % stake, Rusko said: "I don’t think there has been a dramatic price increase." The stake was sold to Yukos in January 2002 for $ 74 mm. After Slovakia buys the stake back from Yukos, the country’s government plans to put the controlling stake in Transpetrol up for sale.
Yukos Oil Company made no official comments regarding the buy-back offer, but a source in the company told that such a deal would be acceptable.