MOSCOW, Aug 11 (AFP) - Beleaguered Russian oil giant Yukos said Wednesday that creditors had declared it in default of a 1.6 billion dollar loan.
"Yukos oil company ("YUKOS") announced today that it had received a notice dated 6 August 2004 from the facility agent under the YUKOS 1.6 billion dollar pre-export facility secured term loan stating that the lender under that facility considers that an event of default has occurred as a result of recent well publicized events and their actual or potential impact on YUKOS' business and assets," the statement said.
The company, which currently faces a staggering 3.4 billion dollar tax bill, which it cannot afford to pay since its assets are frozen by the state, had earlier been declared in default of one billion dollars by a separate group of lenders.
The news appeared after the close of the benchmark RTS index.
Yukos stock fell by 14 percent within minutes of the announcement on the ruble-denominated MICEX exchange.