Russia's Yukos raises oil output
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Assault on former Yukos boss Khodorkovsky is blamed for wrecking Sibneft deal.
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MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- Russia's largest oil firm, YUKOS said on Friday it will raise crude oil output by 11 percent in 2004 to 90 million tonnes.
In a board statement, YUKOS said it would raise capital expenditure by around 1.0 percent against 2003 to $1.9 billion, including business development projects.
YUKOS' directors also decided not to call a planned shareholder meeting on the acrimonious divorce with former merger partner Sibneft, citing a court injunction that has frozen shares swapped in the failed tie-up.
"The board determined that, at this time, it is not entitled to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders to consider the proposed agenda because of a recent decision by the Arbitration Court of Moscow,'' YUKOS' board said in a statement.
YUKOS has in recent months been beleaguered by a raft of criminal and financial claims against the firm and its major shareholders, including a $3 billion bill for back taxes.
The assault, widely seen as a Kremlin-led campaign against YUKOS' politically ambitious former Chief Executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is blamed for wrecking the all but done deal with Sibneft, which would have been Russia's largest post-Soviet merger.
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