MOSCOW (AFP) - Awash in petro-dollars and friendly with the Kremlin, Surgutneftegas dropped its first hint that it was ready to bite into the prized asset of its embattled oil rival Yukos.
A top official for Russia's number four producer in assets and production said he could not exclude bidding on Yukos's crown jewel Yuganskneftegaz once its auction price was announced by the state.
Analysts said Surgut was the only Russian company rich enough to make the purchase and that President Vladimir Putin and his entourage of secret service agents and Soviet era officials would be delighted with the transaction.
Troubled Yukos faces a forced state auction of Yuganskneftegaz to pay off some 7.5 billion dollars (6.25 billion euros) in back taxes that are likely to grow and crush a company that accounts for two percent of world oil production -- about the same as Iraq.
Russia's largest oil producer accuses the Kremlin of artificially driving it towards bankruptcy as a political vendetta against its main owner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is in jail pending his trial on fraud and tax evasion charges and faces a 10-year sentence if convicted.
On Tuesday, Surgut Deputy Director Sergei Fyodorov hinted that the oil company was interested in bidding on Yugansk.
"When they announce (the sale), then we will start looking into the price and the conditions," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
The acquisition of Yugansk -- which produces roughly 60 percent of Yukos's oil and is the Western Siberian field which gave Russia's largest oil producer its name -- would catapult Surgut into a global energy major.
Little is known about Surgut since it does not publish financial records in accordance with international accounting standards.
Its chief Vladimir Bagdanov is a Soviet-era oil man who does not dabble in politics and, analysts say, fits Putin's mold.
"Bagdanov in his attitude has always been pretty close to the people who are in power now, who are now in the Kremlin circle, Soviet people," said Ron Smith, oil and gas analyst at Renaissance Capital.
"He never really did have any political ambitions, he just wanted to run his company town, and produce and accept the leanings of the government. He is the type of a person who is easy to work with from the government's standpoint."
The state-run company Rosneft, now headed by close Putin aide Igor Sechin, had also been seen to be in the running for the Yukos crown jewel, but has just merged with Gazprom, making such a purchase less likely.
But as the Yukos saga rolls on into its second year, yet a new twist may emerge should authorities decide to revoke -- on a complicated technicality -- the production license of Yugansk.
Should the natural resources ministry do that, Yugansk would shut down, its value would evaporate, and it could be bought for a song by just about anyone.
"This threat appears to be a blatant threat maneuver to destroy the company's value ahead of its advertised sale in the Yukos tax debt recovery process," the United Financial Group brokerage said in a research note.
Analysts estimate that Yukos could eventually face a tax bill of about 15 billion dollars -- more or less the current value of a company whose market capitalization last year was double the size.