YUKOS

Yukos Oil Company (??? ?? ????) is a petroleum company in Russia which, until recently, was controlled by Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky and a number of prominent Russian businessmen. Khodorkovsky has been imprisoned, and others have fled Russia.

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Yukos is one of the world's largest non-state oil companies, producing 20% of Russian oil - about 2% of world production. Its assets were acquired in controversial circumstances from the Russian Government during the privatization process of the early 1990s.

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In April 2003, Yukos agreed to a merger with Sibneft, but the merger was soon undone in the aftermath of the arrest of Yukos CEO Khodorkovsky in October, 2003.

Petroleum: Petroleum (from Greek petra – rock and oleum – oil), crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish liquid. A widely believed myth is that the oil itself is flammable, however it is actually the gas that evaporates from the oil that is flammable. ...

Russia: The Russian Federation (, transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija), or Russia (Russian: ???????, transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija), is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of Europe and Asia. With an area of 17,075,400 km? (6,595,600 mi?), it is the largest coun...

Billionaire: A billionaire is a very wealthy person, one who has a net worth over USD $1,000,000,000, or over 1000 times the net worth of a millionaire....