Deutsche Bank Wants Yukos Bankruptcy Dropped

Deutsche Bank has filed a motion with a court in Houston, Texas, to dismiss the claim for bankruptcy protection by Russian oil giant Yukos, a spokesman for Germany's biggest bank said on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank filed the motion at the federal court in Houston on Tuesday afternoon, he added. The German bank believes that the application by Yukos for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month -- in an attempt to stave off a forced auction of its major oil-producing asset Yuganskneftegaz -- should be dismissed because Yukos has no material assets in Texas that would constitute jurisdiction in the US. Deutsche Bank was one of a consortium of banks that had intended to put up €10 billion ($13.62 billion) in funding to Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom to buy Yuganskneftegaz, which produces 60 percent of Yukos oil. But a US court granted an injunction to prevent Gazprom and its lenders from participating in the auction and Yuganskneftegaz was finally sold to the unknown Baikalfinansgroup.