Anglo-Russian oil firm to take court battle vs. Russia's Sibneft abroad

MOSCOW, June 30 (AFP) – Anglo-Russian oil company Sibir Energy said Thursday it would start a legal campaign abroad against Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's oil giant Sibneft for the return of a joint venture investment.

"Sibir Energy continues to pursue court cases in Russia, and will soon initiate legal actions against the perpetrators of this fraud elsewhere," said Henry Cameron, Sibir Energy's chief executive, in a press conference in Moscow.

Sibir accuses Sibneft of increasing the charter capital of the two companies' joint venture, Sibneft Yugra, to reduce the stake of Yugraneft, a Sibir subsidiary, from 50 percent to one percent.

"Sibneft will be forced to hand back the Yugraneft assets which were misappropriated. Moscow Oil and Gas Company (MOGC) and Sibir have lost an oilfield, the value of which could be as much as 1.5 billion dollars," Cameron said in a statement.

Sibir will join forces with its Russian partner MOGC to fight the legal campaign, the statement said.

But Sibneft denied the allegations and called for the conflict to be resolved within the Russian legal system.

"Sibneft in its dealings with the Sibneft Yugra venture has operated entirely within a broader set of agreements dealing with several different projects," Sibneft spokesman John Mann told AFP.

"We're talking about a working relationship between two groups of Russian shareholders. The proper place to resolve it is in the Russian courts," Mann said.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for Sibir Energy, Dmitry Afanasiyev, said in a statement that the affair represented "a backward step in the progress which has been made by the Russian government in attracting investment into Russia."