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137-573: OJSC "Yukos Oil Company" (Russian: ОАО Нефтяна́я Компа́ния Ю́КОС , IPA: [ˈjukəs] ) was an oil and gas company based in Moscow , Russia . Yukos was acquired from the Russian government by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky 's Bank Menatep during the controversial "loans for shares" auctions of the mid 1990s . Between 1996 and 2003, Yukos became one of the largest and most successful Russian companies, producing 20% of Russia's oil output. In

274-425: A Forbes profile, March 2002 The initial period of "oligarchic privatization" was characterized by ruthlessness and bloodshed, with those having power sometimes compared to 19th century robber barons , and Yukos was no exception. For example, the former Security Chief of Yukos, Alexei Pichugin , was convicted on multiple counts of murder and attempted murder, including (along with Yukos 1st Vice President Nevzlin)

411-522: A fuel for human consumption to provide energy for direct use (such as for cooking , heating or lighting ), to power heat engines (such as steam or internal combustion engines ) that can propel vehicles , or to generate electricity via steam turbine generators. Some fossil fuels are further refined into derivatives such as kerosene , gasoline and diesel , or converted into petrochemicals such as polyolefins ( plastics ), aromatics and synthetic resins . The origin of fossil fuels

548-634: A just transition and create policy that addresses the societal burdens created by the stranded assets of the fossil fuel industry. International policy, in the form of United Nations ' sustainable development goals for affordable and clean energy and climate action , as well as the Paris Climate Agreement , is designed to facilitate this transition at a global level. In 2021, the International Energy Agency concluded that no new fossil fuel extraction projects could be opened if

685-603: A public limited company ). The Ukrainian form of the private limited company is called товариство з обмеженою відповідальністю (ТОВ or ТзОВ). Oil and gas A fossil fuel is a carbon compound - or hydrocarbon -containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms ( animals , plants or planktons ), a process that occurs within geological formations . Reservoirs of such compound mixtures , such as coal , petroleum and natural gas , can be extracted and burnt as

822-648: A subsidiary of another corporation (its parent company ), which may itself be either a closely held or a public corporation. In some jurisdictions, the subsidiary of a listed public corporation is also defined as a public corporation (for example, in Australia ). In Australia corporations are registered and regulated by the Commonwealth Government through the Australian Securities and Investments Commission . Corporations law has been largely codified in

959-403: A $ 500m dividend, in 2002 – $ 700m and in 2003 the planned dividend payout was estimated at $ 3 billion. Its share prices were growing quickly: in 2001 by 191%, in 2001 by 81.5%. It started international expansion, purchasing 49% shares of Transpetrol (Slovakia) and 53% shares of Mazeikiu Nafta (Lithuania). In 2002 four companies – Yukos, Lukoil, TNK and Sibneft – established a consortium to build

1096-671: A December 2004 Houston , Texas court filing, the CFO resides in Houston. According to a company spokeswoman the CEO resided in London, UK as of December 2004. Executives Mikhail Brudno and Vladimir Dubov fled to Israel in 2003, and were seen on February 2, 2005 in Washington, D.C. at an official function for President George W. Bush . Both men were cited in an international arrest warrant regarding their involvement in

1233-473: A barrel, and great political and economic uncertainty, it was "unclear" at the time of the auction how much a company like Yukos was "actually worth", and concludes that perhaps the auctions were not wildly mispriced within the context, but regardless, they were a public relations disaster which "came to symbolize the flawed transition [of privatization] as a whole". One of the commercial banks contending for Yukos – and controversially also managing its auction –

1370-593: A bid or spoke out. Shortly after the Yuganskneftegaz auction, Rosneft, Russian state-owned oil company, acquired 100% of shares in Baikalfinansgrup. The acquisition of Yuganskneftegaz significantly increased Rosneft's profits and made it one of the largest oil companies in Russia. On June 15, 2006, based on a bank deposit of US$ 4 million and its American CEO's Houston home, Yukos filed for bankruptcy protection in

1507-405: A company with legal liability, not being a partnership, had a distinct legal personality that was separate from that of its individual shareholders. The existence of a corporation requires a special legal framework and body of law that specifically grants the corporation legal personality, and it typically views a corporation as a fictional person, a legal person, or a moral person (as opposed to

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1644-410: A complex mixture of high-molecular weight organic compounds, which yield synthetic crude oil when heated ( pyrolyzed ). With additional processing, they can be employed instead of other established fossil fuels. During the 2010s and 2020s there was disinvestment from exploitation of such resources due to their high carbon cost relative to more easily-processed reserves. Prior to the latter half of

1781-453: A corporate tax rate, and dividends paid to shareholders are taxed at a separate rate. Such a system is sometimes referred to as " double taxation " because any profits distributed to shareholders will eventually be taxed twice. One solution, followed by as in the case of the Australian and UK tax systems, is for the recipient of the dividend to be entitled to a tax credit to address the fact that

1918-432: A form for smaller enterprises, are becoming increasingly common. Between 2002 and 2008, the intermediary corporation ( 中間法人 , chūkan hōjin ) existed to bridge the gap between for-profit companies and non-governmental and non-profit organizations. In Latvia , which uses a model similar to Germany, a public stock company is called an akciju sabiedrība (a/s, A/S or AS), whereas a private, 'limited liability company'

2055-555: A government owned business, was Sergei Muravlenko (Russian: Сергей Муравленко ), the former General Director of Yuganskneftegaz and son of Viktor Muravlenko, a former head of the oil and gas sector during the Soviet regime . During 1995 and 1996, with Russia in economic difficulty , many large state-owned industrial businesses were privatized in a second round of reorganization (" Loans for shares "), in which major state assets were sold off through – and often to – Russian commercial banks in

2192-602: A large pool of shareholders with management in the hands of jingshang , merchants who operated their businesses using investors' funds, with investor compensation based on profit-sharing, reducing the risk of individual merchants and burdens of interest payment. The operation of these joint investment partnerships can be examined in a mathematical problem included in the Mathematical treatise in nine sections ( Shu-shu chiu-chang ) (1247 ed.) of Ch'in Chiu-shao (c.1202–61). Although

2329-626: A legal entity that has shares (Bosnian/Croatian: dionica or vrijednosni papir ; Serbian: akcija or hartija od vrijednosti - Cyrillic : акција or хартија од вриједности ) that can be traded in a free market or stock exchanges in the Bosnia and Herzegovina (listed in Sarajevo Stock Exchange or Banja Luka Stock Exchange ). In Bulgaria , a joint-stock company is called a aktsionerno druzhestvo or AD ( Bulgarian : акционерно дружество or АД ). When all shares are owned by

2466-425: A lesser extent oil and its derivatives, contributes to atmospheric particulate matter , smog and acid rain . Air pollution from fossil fuels in 2018 has been estimated to cost US$ 2.9 trillion, or 3.3% of the global gross domestic product (GDP). Climate change is largely driven by the release of greenhouse gases like CO 2 , and the burning of fossil fuels is the main source of these emissions. In most parts of

2603-400: A mere $ 310 million, and how Boris Berezovsky got Sibneft, another oil giant, worth $ 3 billion, for about $ 100 million.... [T]he government was generally unable to exercise much control. Since the state was very weak, these "New Russians" paid little or no taxes on their purchases" - Marshall Goldman , Professor of economics and associate director of Russian Studies at Harvard . "Much of

2740-632: A more viable financial structure than previous guilds or state-regulated companies. The first joint-stock companies to be implemented in the Americas were the London Company and the Plymouth Company . Transferable shares aim to achieve positive returns on equity , which is evidenced by investment in companies like the East India Company, which used the financing model to manage their trade on

2877-460: A much smaller hit to their returns as opposed to those involved with a closely held corporation. Publicly traded companies, however, can suffer from that advantage. A closely held corporation can often voluntarily take a hit to profit with little to no repercussions if it is not a sustained loss. A publicly traded company often comes under extreme scrutiny if profit and growth are not evident to stock holders, thus stock holders may sell, further damaging

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3014-467: A natural person) which shields its owners (shareholders) from "corporate" losses or liabilities; losses are limited to the number of shares owned. It furthermore creates an inducement to new investors (marketable stocks and future stock issuance). Corporate statutes typically empower corporations to own property, sign binding contracts, and pay taxes in a capacity separate from that of its shareholders, who are sometimes referred to as "members". The corporation

3151-473: A pipeline from Western Siberia to Murmansk. In a marked change of direction which gained considerable United States coverage, the company and its owner came to be seen as a leopard that might be changing its spots and setting aside the dubious conduct previously associated with it in the early oligarch years. Yukos had five Americans on its board, and Khodorkovsky's charity " Open Russia " listed Henry Kissinger and Lord (Jacob) Rothschild as chairmen. In 2001

3288-754: A process known as catagenesis . Despite these heat-driven transformations, the energy released in combustion is still photosynthetic in origin. Terrestrial plants tended to form coal and methane. Many of the coal fields date to the Carboniferous period of Earth's history . Terrestrial plants also form type III kerogen , a source of natural gas. Although fossil fuels are continually formed by natural processes, they are classified as non-renewable resources because they take millions of years to form and known viable reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are generated. Fossil fuels have been important to human development because they can be readily burned in

3425-625: A publicly traded company, as there will generally be fewer voting shareholders, and the shareholders would have common interests. A publicly traded company is also at the mercy of the market, with capital flow in and out based not only on what the company is doing but also on what the market and even what the competitors, major and minor, are doing. However, publicly traded companies also have advantages over their closely held counterparts. Publicly traded companies often have more working capital and can delegate debt throughout all shareholders. Therefore, shareholders of publicly traded company will each take

3562-503: A responsabilità limitata , or S.r.l.), and the publicly traded partnership ( società in accomandita per azioni , or S.a.p.a.). The latter is a hybrid of the limited partnership and public limited company, having two categories of shareholders, some with and some without limited liability, and is rarely used in practice. In Japan , both the state and local public entities under the Local Autonomy Act (now 47 prefectures , made in

3699-406: A result of anaerobic decomposition . Over geological time this organic matter , mixed with mud , became buried under further heavy layers of inorganic sediment. The resulting high temperature and pressure caused the organic matter to chemically alter , first into a waxy material known as kerogen , which is found in oil shales , and then with more heat into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons in

3836-483: A result of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use. According to head of a fertilizers commodity price agency, "50% of the world's food relies on fertilisers." The burning of fossil fuels has a number of negative externalities  – harmful environmental impacts where the effects extend beyond the people using the fuel. These effects vary between different fuels. All fossil fuels release CO 2 when they burn, thus accelerating climate change . Burning coal, and to

3973-464: A series of rigged auctions whose participants were limited to favored bidders with political connections. This acquisition of valuable state industrial enterprises for far less than their open market value also marked the emergence of a wave of Russian oligarchs – immensely wealthy Russian businessmen with powerful political connections, who held a dominant position in Russian business and politics for some time. (The first wave of wealthy individuals

4110-474: A single shareholder the company receives the special designation of ednolichno aktsionerno druzhestvo or EAD ( Bulgarian : еднолично акционерно дружество or ЕАД ). In Canada both the federal government and the provinces have corporate statutes, and thus a corporation may be incorporated either provincially or federally. Many older corporations in Canada stem from Acts of Parliament passed before

4247-627: A statutory rate of 30% at the time. Yukos claims its actions were legal at the time and that the company used the same tax optimisation schemes as other Russian oil companies, such as Lukoil, TNK-BP and Sibneft. However, Yukos was the only one to be charged with tax evasion and penalised by the authorities. Yukos subsidiaries declared the oil they produced to be "oil-containing liquids" to avoid paying full taxes. A general crackdown on such tax evasion practices began with Putin's presidency, with numerous companies closing or purchasing their trading vehicles. A management presentation from December 2004 shows that

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4384-594: A stock transfer for an eighth of the company (or more specifically, the mountain in which the copper resource was available) as early as 1288. In more recent history, the earliest joint-stock company recognized in England was the Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands , founded in 1551 with 240 shareholders. It became the Muscovy Company , which had a monopoly on trade between Russia and England , when royal charter

4521-576: Is a matter of definition. An early form of joint-stock company was the medieval commenda , although it was usually employed for a single commercial expedition. Around 1350 in France at Toulouse , 96 shares of the Société des Moulins du Bazacle , or Bazacle Milling Company were traded at a value that depended on the profitability of the mills the society owned, making it probably the first company of its kind in history. The Swedish company Stora has documented

4658-521: Is a net increase of many billion tonnes of atmospheric CO 2 per year. Although methane leaks are significant, the burning of fossil fuels is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming and ocean acidification . Additionally, most air pollution deaths are due to fossil fuel particulates and noxious gases, and it is estimated that this costs over 3% of the global gross domestic product and that fossil fuel phase-out will save millions of lives each year. Recognition of

4795-419: Is also empowered to borrow money, both conventionally and directly to the public, by issuing interest-bearing bonds. Corporations subsist indefinitely; "death" comes only by absorption (takeover) or bankruptcy. According to Lord Chancellor Haldane , ...a corporation is an abstraction. It has no mind of its own any more than it has a body of its own; its active and directing will must consequently be sought in

4932-500: Is an attempt to reduce climate change by exerting social, political, and economic pressure for the institutional divestment of assets including stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments connected to companies involved in extracting fossil fuels . Fossil fuel divestment campaigns emerged on college and university campuses in the United States in 2011 with students urging their administrations to turn endowment investments in

5069-621: Is called a sabiedrība ar ierobežotu atbildību (SIA). State-owned variants of these companies add an initial capital V ( valsts - 'state'), as in VAS and VSIA. In Norway, a joint-stock company is called an aksjeselskap , abbreviated AS . A special and by far less common form of joint-stock companies, intended for companies with a large number of shareholders, is the publicly traded joint-stock companies, called allmennaksjeselskap and abbreviated ASA . A joint-stock company must be incorporated, has an independent legal personality and limited liability, and

5206-404: Is now considered a very valuable resource. Natural gas deposits are also the main source of helium . Heavy crude oil , which is much more viscous than conventional crude oil, and oil sands , where bitumen is found mixed with sand and clay, began to become more important as sources of fossil fuel in the early 2000s. Oil shale and similar materials are sedimentary rocks containing kerogen ,

5343-457: Is often synonymous with incorporation (possession of legal personality separate from shareholders) and limited liability (shareholders are liable for the company's debts only to the value of the money they have invested in the company). Therefore, joint-stock companies are commonly known as corporations or limited companies . Some jurisdictions still provide the possibility of registering joint-stock companies without limited liability. In

5480-503: Is required to have a certain capital upon incorporation. Ordinary joint-stock companies must have a minimum capital of NOK 30,000 upon incorporation, which was reduced from 100,000 in 2012. Publicly traded joint-stock companies must have a minimum capital of NOK 1 million. See: Open joint-stock company (OJSC). In Spain there are two types of companies with limited liability: (i) "S.L.", or Sociedad Limitada (a private limited company ), and (ii) "S.A.", or Sociedad Anónima (similar to

5617-501: Is sometimes transported by diesel-powered locomotives, while crude oil is typically transported by tanker ships, requiring the combustion of additional fossil fuels. A variety of mitigating efforts have arisen to counter the negative effects of fossil fuels. This includes a movement to use alternative energy sources, such as renewable energy . Environmental regulation uses a variety of approaches to limit these emissions; for example, rules against releasing waste products like fly ash into

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5754-493: Is that publicly traded corporations have the burden of complying with additional securities laws, which (especially in the US) may require additional periodic disclosure (with more stringent requirements), stricter corporate governance standards as well as additional procedural obligations in connection with major corporate transactions (for example, mergers) or events (for example, elections of directors). A closely held corporation may be

5891-528: Is the anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms, whose organic molecules were produced by photosynthetic carbon fixation and sequestered / biomagnified by the food web , creating an underground carbon sink . The conversion from these organic materials to high-carbon fossil fuels typically requires a geological process of millions of years. Due to the length of time it takes nature to form them, fossil fuels are considered non-renewable resources . In 2022, over 80% of primary energy consumption in

6028-464: Is used in the construction of roads . The energy for the Green Revolution was provided by fossil fuels in the form of fertilizers (natural gas), pesticides (oil), and hydrocarbon -fueled irrigation . The development of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has significantly supported global population growth ; it has been estimated that almost half of the Earth's population are currently fed as

6165-641: Is waging war on nature. This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back – and it is already doing so with growing force and fury." He also claimed there is still cause for hope, anticipating the US plan to join other large emitters like China and the EU in adopting targets to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Fossilflation is a term that describes the impact of fossil fuels on inflation . According to Vox in August 2022 , "Economists have pointed to energy prices as

6302-450: Is yielding to an ethic of reinvesting in your business" with Khodorkovsky "leading the charge", with Yukos now having an American chief financial officer and publishing its previous three years of financial accounts in compliance with U.S. GAAP standards. It quoted Khodorkovsky as saying, "By now we understand how business is done in the West... I earn money in dividends and with the increase in

6439-631: The Aktiengesellschaft (AG), analogous to public limited companies (or corporations in US/Can) in the English-speaking world, and the Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH), similar to the modern private limited company . Italy recognizes three types of company limited by shares: the public limited company ( società per azioni , or S.p.A.), the private limited company ( società

6576-683: The Canada Business Corporations Act . The Chilean form of joint-stock company is called Sociedad por Acciones (often abbreviated "SpA"). They were created in 2007 by Law N° 20.190, and they are the most recent variety of societary types, as they represent a simplified form of corporation – originally conceived for venture capital companies. According to the Ministry of Economy's Business and Society Registry, SpAs accounted for 71.42% of new businesses in October 2023. The Czech form of

6713-721: The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce , an established neutral body used by Russia and the West since the 1970s for trade disputes, concluded that the government's action was an " unlawful expropriation " using "illegitimate" tax bills, whose effect was intended to "destroy Yukos and gain control over its assets". An arbitral tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled unanimously upon awarding compensation of $ 50 billion for

6850-513: The Corporations Act 2001 . In Brazil there are many different types of legal entities ( sociedades ), but the two most common ones commercially speaking are (i) sociedade limitada , identified by "Ltda." or "Limitada" after the company's name, equivalent to the British limited liability company, and (ii) sociedade anônima or companhia , identified by "SA" or "Companhia" in

6987-531: The Dutch East India Company issued shares that were made tradable on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange . The development enhanced the ability of joint-stock companies to attract capital from investors, as they could now easily dispose of their shares. In 1612, it became the first 'corporation' in intercontinental trade with 'locked in' capital and limited liability. The joint-stock company became

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7124-487: The Indian subcontinent . Joint-stock companies paid out divisions (dividends) to their shareholders by dividing up the profits of the voyage in the proportion of shares held. Divisions were usually cash, but when working capital was low and detrimental to the survival of the company, divisions were either postponed or paid out in remaining cargo, which could be sold by shareholders for profit. However, in general, incorporation

7261-510: The United Kingdom and in other countries that have adopted its model of company law, they are known as unlimited companies . A joint-stock company is an artificial person; it has legal existence separate from persons composing it. It can sue and can be sued in its own name. It is created by law, established for commercial purposes, and comprises a large number of members. The shares of each member can be purchased, sold, and transferred without

7398-459: The climate crisis , pollution and other negative impacts caused by fossil fuels has led to a widespread policy transition and activist movement focused on ending their use in favor of renewable and sustainable energy . Because the fossil-fuel industry is so heavily integrated in the global economy and heavily subsidized , this transition is expected to have significant economic impacts. Many stakeholders argue that this change needs to be

7535-599: The fossil fuel industry into investments in clean energy and communities most impacted by climate change . In 2012, Unity College in Maine became the first institution of higher learning to divest its endowment from fossil fuels. By 2015, fossil fuel divestment was reportedly the fastest growing divestment movement in history. As of July 2023, more than 1593 institutions with assets totalling more than $ 40.5  trillion in assets worldwide had begun or committed some form of divestment of fossil fuels. In 2019, Saudi Aramco

7672-407: The health risks of air pollution , and would greatly reduce global carbon emissions thus helping to limit climate change . As of 2021 , policy researchers estimate that substantially more money is spent on fossil fuel subsidies than on environmentally harmful agricultural subsidies or environmentally harmful water subsidies . The International Energy Agency says: "High fossil fuel prices hit

7809-406: The internal combustion engine and its use in automobiles and trucks greatly increased the demand for gasoline and diesel oil , both made from fossil fuels. Other forms of transportation, railways and aircraft, also require fossil fuels. The other major use for fossil fuels is in generating electricity and as feedstock for the petrochemical industry . Tar , a leftover of petroleum extraction,

7946-562: The "New Management" of Yukos. However, this was apparently an illegal act, as Yukos "emphatically rejected" the legitimacy of the "new management" which had Vinokurov as president. According to Yukos, these individuals were "loyal to Rosneft" and had as goal the downfall of Yukos. A Yukos lawyer, Pavel Ivlev , was accused of several crimes, after which he moved to the USA. In July 2006, one week before creditors would vote if they should file for bankruptcy, Steven Theede resigned his function as he believed

8083-487: The 18th century, windmills and watermills provided the energy needed for work such as milling flour, sawing wood or pumping water, while burning wood or peat provided domestic heat. The wide-scale use of fossil fuels, coal at first and petroleum later, in steam engines enabled the Industrial Revolution . At the same time, gas lights using natural gas or coal gas were coming into wide use. The invention of

8220-510: The 19th century and municipalities ) are considered to be corporations ( 法人 , hōjin ) . Non-profit corporations may be established under the Civil Code . The term "company" ( 会社 , kaisha ) or (企業 kigyō ) is used to refer to business corporations. The predominant form is the Kabushiki gaisha (株式会社), used by public corporations as well as smaller enterprises. Mochibun kaisha (持分会社),

8357-429: The 2004 Fortune 500 , Yukos was ranked as the 359th largest company in the world. In October 2003, Khodorkovsky—by then the richest person in Russia and 16th richest person in the world—was arrested, and the company was forcibly broken up for alleged unpaid taxes shortly after and declared bankrupt in August 2006. Courts in several countries later ruled that the real intent was to destroy Yukos and obtain its assets for

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8494-418: The 21st century. Combustion of fossil fuels generates sulfuric and nitric acids , which fall to Earth as acid rain, impacting both natural areas and the built environment. Monuments and sculptures made from marble and limestone are particularly vulnerable, as the acids dissolve calcium carbonate . Fossil fuels also contain radioactive materials, mainly uranium and thorium , which are released into

8631-605: The COVID-19 pandemic, some argued for the possibility of a base effect phenomenon due to cheaper than normal prices, such as for oil, at the onset of the pandemic, followed by above-average prices which exacerbated the perceived inflation. While not expected to provide much short-term relief, the Inflation Reduction Act seeks to make the United States less dependent on fossil fuels and their ability to cause inflation in

8768-471: The Council of Europe condemned Russia's campaign against Yukos and its owners as manufactured for political reasons and a violation of human rights. Between 2011 and 2014 several court cases were won by the former company's management and investors against Russia or against the companies that acquired Yukos assets. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that there had been unfair use of the legal and tax system;

8905-653: The District Court of The Hague set aside the decisions of the PCA, ruling that it had no jurisdiction as provisional application of the ECT arbitration clause violated Russian law. In February 2020, the Court of Appeal of the Hague reversed the invalidation and held that the PCA awards were valid. Joint-stock company#Russia In modern-day corporate law , the existence of a joint-stock company

9042-518: The Houston court declared that under no conceivable theory could Yukos assert domicile in the United States. On July 25, 2006, the creditors of Yukos decided to file for bankruptcy after the bankruptcy manager recommended the company be liquidated. At the time, key management included: By mid-December, 2004, all members of the board of Yukos, and most of the company's senior managers, had left Russia, some of them because of "fear of arrest" after being "summoned for questioning by prosecutors". According to

9179-446: The Russian government presented Yukos with a series of tax claims totaling US$ 27 billion (€20,1 billion). As the government froze Yukos' assets at the same time, and alternative attempts to settle by Yukos were refused, the company was unable to pay these tax demands. Between 2004 and 2007, most of Yukos's assets were seized and transferred for a fraction of their value to state-owned oil companies. The Parliamentary Assembly of

9316-600: The US House of Representatives and the Council of Europe . According to a resolution of the Council of Europe, In the Western media and the Russian opposition media the high-profile arrest of Khodorkovsky is usually attributed to his activism in the Russian political process . On October 31, 2003, shortly after the arrest of the company's CEO, the Russian government froze ownership of 44% of

9453-548: The US). The institution most often referenced by the word "corporation" is publicly traded , which means that the company's shares are traded on a public stock exchange (for example, the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq in the United States) whose shares of stock of corporations are bought and sold by and to the general public. Most of the largest businesses in the world are publicly traded corporations. However,

9590-538: The United States production. In addition to the effects that result from burning, the harvesting, processing, and distribution of fossil fuels also have environmental effects. Coal mining methods, particularly mountaintop removal and strip mining , have negative environmental impacts, and offshore oil drilling poses a hazard to aquatic organisms. Fossil fuel wells can contribute to methane release via fugitive gas emissions . Oil refineries also have negative environmental impacts, including air and water pollution. Coal

9727-406: The United States, estimating its assets at US$ 12.3 billion and its debts at US$ 30.8 billion, including "alleged taxes owed to the Russian government". It accused the Russian authorities of "an unprecedented campaign of illegal, discriminatory, and disproportionate tax claims escalating into raids and confiscations, culminating in intimidation and arrests". After several weeks of deliberation,

9864-495: The Yukos tax case. On Wednesday, April 6, 2006, the company's Executive Vice President, Vasily Aleksanyan , was arrested just six days into his new role. Yukos commented on its web site that, "We can only assume that this action against him is a direct result of his accepting a position to work to protect Yukos Oil Company and its legitimate stakeholders." The following month, it was reported that some individuals established themselves as

10001-484: The aftermath of the October 2003 arrest of its CEO. Although weak at the time of the auctions and the economic downturn of the mid-1990s , from 2000 the government under new leader Vladimir Putin grew in strength, until it became able politically to outweigh the power of the oligarchs. On October 25, 2003, Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested on charges of fraud and tax evasion. Leonid Bershidsky, founder of Russian business newspaper Vedomosti , wrote: "Any of

10138-458: The atmosphere. In December 2020, the United Nations released a report saying that despite the need to reduce greenhouse emissions, various governments are " doubling down " on fossil fuels, in some cases diverting over 50% of their COVID-19 recovery stimulus funding to fossil fuel production rather than to alternative energy. The UN secretary general António Guterres declared that "Humanity

10275-532: The atmosphere. In 2000, about 12,000 tonnes of thorium and 5,000 tonnes of uranium were released worldwide from burning coal. It is estimated that during 1982, US coal burning released 155 times as much radioactivity into the atmosphere as the Three Mile Island accident . Burning coal also generates large amounts of bottom ash and fly ash . These materials are used in a wide variety of applications (see Fly ash reuse ), utilizing, for example, about 40% of

10412-459: The auction in Tver at an address where a snack bar was located, won the auction for Yukos's subsidiary Yuganskneftegas with a 260.75 billion rubles ($ 9.4 billion) bid. According to people familiar with the auction only two bidders registered for, and were present during, the auction process: Baikalfinansgrup and Gazprom 's former oil unit Gazpromneft . Accounts from the auction say that

10549-675: The benefit of an investment treaty. The sole remedy of US-based investors in seeking approximately $ 12 billion in redress is to request the State Department and the Office of the United States Trade Representative to espouse the claim to their Russian counterparts, as it is determined by the Magnitsky Act of 2012; State Department officials have reportedly raised Yukos investors' concerns at deputy prime minister level in

10686-572: The case of Hallett v Dowdall , the Court of the Exchequer held that such clauses bound people who have notice of them. Four years later, the Joint Stock Companies Act 1856 provided for limited liability for all joint-stock companies provided, among other things, that they included the word "limited" in their company name. The landmark case of Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd established that

10823-545: The company debts that extend beyond the company's ability to pay up to the amount of them. The earliest records of joint-stock companies appear in China during the Tang and Song dynasties . The Tang dynasty saw the development of the heben , the earliest form of joint stock company with an active partner and one or two passive investors. By the Song dynasty this had expanded into the douniu ,

10960-495: The company donated $ 1 million to the Library of Congress Open World Program , to aid the development of Russian leadership and rule of law , in part by funding Russian judges to visit and observe United States courts. In a 2002 profile, Forbes described Khodorkovsky as being "vilified by the West" until quite recently, but now being seen as perhaps "the West's best friend". It stated that in Russia, "the financial free-for-all

11097-480: The company if a vacancy occurs, but that is uncommon. A joint-stock company also differs from other company forms, as it lacks internal ownership (hence its shareholders). This means that although the shareholder(s) in the joint-stock company may also work for the company as employees or by contract, when they act as shareholders they are always exterior to the company, which may help keep ownership business-oriented and impersonal. Provided sales and assets exist within

11234-520: The company profits. Closely held companies often have a better relationship with workers. In larger, publicly traded companies, often after only one bad year, the first area to feel the effects is the workforce with layoffs or worker hours, wages or benefits being cut. Again, in a closely held business the shareholders can incur the profit damage rather than passing it to the workers. The affairs of publicly traded and closely held corporations are similar in many respects. The main difference in most countries

11371-472: The company's assets, that Yukos was the target of a series of politically motivated attacks by Russian authorities that eventually led to its destruction, and that Russia had expropriated Yukos' assets in breach of the Energy Charter Treaty . The treaty does not prohibit governments seizing or nationalizing commercial assets, but requires investors to be fairly compensated. Though Russia never ratified

11508-489: The company's name, equivalent to the British public limited company. The "Ltda." is mainly governed by the new Civil Code, enacted in 2002, and the "SA", by Law 6.404, dated December 15, 1976, as amended. In Bosnia and Herzegovina , a joint-stock company is called: The specified form of organization means that the company ( private or state-owned ) is organized on the Bosnian market (Federation of BiH and RS entity level) as

11645-538: The company's shares. The reason given was to prevent a group of shareholders led by Khodorkovsky from selling a large stake of the company to the US oil firm Exxon . A Yukos shareholders' meeting scheduled for December 20, 2004 was to discuss a "crisis plan." A Russian company must hold such a meeting before it can apply for bankruptcy in Russia. The Russian Government sold Yukos's main production unit, known as Yuganskneftegas , at auction on December 19, 2004 to recover some of US$ 28 billion in alleged tax debts, following

11782-469: The company, a joint-stock company is effectively a forum for three- party trading: Owners, i.e. shareholders, are seeking financial funds (profits) and offer economic assets, in the form of capital. Employees, contractors and other contracted parties seek compensation and offer labor for this. Utilisers, ie customers, clients and other stakeholders, seek products and services, and offer financial funds for this. The shareholders are usually not liable for any of

11919-408: The company. Often, that blow is enough to make a small public company fail. Often, communities benefit from a closely held company more so than from a public company. A closely held company is far more likely to stay in a single place that has treated it well even if that means going through hard times. Shareholders can incur some of the damage the company may receive from a bad year or slow period in

12056-513: The consent of other members. Its capital is divided into transferable shares, suitable for large undertakings. Joint stock companies have a perpetual succession and a common seal. Ownership refers to a large number of privileges. The company is managed on behalf of the shareholders by a board of directors, elected at an annual general meeting. The shareholders also vote to accept or reject an annual report and audited set of accounts. Individual shareholders can sometimes stand for directorships within

12193-509: The corporation are able to assess the creditworthiness of the corporation and cannot enforce claims against shareholders. Shareholders, therefore, experience some loss of privacy in return for limited liability. That requirement generally applies in Europe, but not in common law jurisdictions, except for publicly traded corporations (for which financial disclosure is required for investor protection). In many countries, corporate profits are taxed at

12330-408: The course of the next few years, became one of Russia's largest oil companies, one of the world's largest non-state oil companies, but more significantly, a leader in Russian corporate governance reform and corporate transparency , with Khodorkovsky being widely seen as a pro-democratic reformer who advocated for international co-operation and against corruption in Russia . In 2001 the company paid

12467-711: The data show that fossil fuels cause the highest levels of greenhouse gas emissions and are the most dangerous for human health. In contrast, modern renewable energy sources appear to be safer for human health and cleaner. The death rates from accidents and air pollution in the EU are as follows per terawatt-hour (TWh): As the data shows, coal, oil, natural gas, and biomass cause higher death rates and higher levels of greenhouse gas emissions than hydropower, nuclear energy, wind, and solar power. Scientists propose that 1.8 million lives have been saved by replacing fossil fuel sources with nuclear power. Fossil fuel divestment or fossil fuel divestment and investment in climate solutions

12604-563: The dealings it describes are perhaps more complex than those practiced a century earlier, it essentially deals with a kind of investment and division of profits that for sure would have been made in the twelfth if not also the eleventh century: a four-party partnership that collectively made an investment (of 424,000 strings of cash) in a Chinese trading venture to southeast Asia. Each party's original investment consisted of precious metals like silver and gold and commodities like salt, paper, and monk certificates (and their accruing tax exemption). Yet

12741-931: The economy. Moody's estimates that by 2030, the bill could reduce the typical American household's spending on energy by more than $ 300 each year, in 2022 dollars. Environmental pollution from fossil fuels impacts humans because particulates and other air pollution from fossil fuel combustion may cause illness and death when inhaled. These health effects include premature death, acute respiratory illness, aggravated asthma, chronic bronchitis and decreased lung function. The poor, undernourished, very young and very old, and people with preexisting respiratory disease and other ill health are more at risk. Global air pollution deaths due to fossil fuels have been estimated at over 8 million people (2018, nearly 1 in 5 deaths worldwide) at 10.2 million (2019), and 5.13 million excess deaths from ambient air pollution from fossil fuel use (2023). While all energy sources inherently have adverse effects,

12878-458: The firm cannot be taken by personal creditors of its shareholders. The second feature requires special legislation and a special legal framework, as it cannot be reproduced via standard contract law. The regulations most favorable to incorporation include: In many jurisdictions, corporations whose shareholders benefit from limited liability are required to publish annual financial statements and other data so that creditors who do business with

13015-446: The first bid of US$ 8.6 billion came from Baikal. When the auctioneer asked Gazpromneft to offer its price, a representative of the company asked to make a telephone call and left the room. A few minutes earlier, the auctioneer had told participants that using a mobile phone or leaving the room was against the rules. When a Gazpromneft representative returned to the room, Baikal made a bid of US$ 9.3 billion. Gazpromneft never placed

13152-461: The full treaty, these clauses were still legally binding under both the treaty and Russian law until 2029. According to the arbitral tribunal's ruling, the primary objective of the Russian Federation was not to collect taxes but rather to bankrupt Yukos, appropriate its assets for the sole benefit of the Russian state and state-owned companies Rosneft and Gazprom , and remove Khodorkovsky from

13289-474: The global economy and society wants to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and meet international goals for climate change mitigation . The theory that fossil fuels formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants by exposure to heat and pressure in Earth's crust over millions of years was first introduced by Andreas Libavius "in his 1597 Alchemia [Alchymia]" and later by Mikhail Lomonosov "as early as 1757 and certainly by 1763". The first use of

13426-401: The government and offers exploring other ways to settle, such as payment in stages or sale of non-core assets, were refused or ignored. In July 2004, its core asset, Yuganskneftegaz – producing 60% of the company's oil and by itself as much oil as Iraq or Libya and variously valued between $ 14.7 to $ 22 billion and $ 30.4 billion – was confiscated. In December 2004, Yuganskneftegaz

13563-493: The government, and act politically against Khodorkovsky. In 2014, the largest arbitration award in history, $ 50 billion (€37.2 billion), was won by Yukos' former owners against Russia. This $ 50 billion award by an arbitral tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration was ruled invalid by the District court in The Hague in 2016, but reinstated by the Court of Appeal of the Hague in 2020. From 2003 to 2004 onwards,

13700-465: The importance of energy, transport and chemical industries to local, national and international economies, these lobbies have the capacity and money to attempt to have outsized influence on governmental policy. In particular, the lobbies have been known to obstruct policy related to environmental protection , environmental health and climate action . Lobbies are active in most fossil-fuel intensive economies with democratic governance, with reporting on

13837-497: The introduction of general corporation law. The oldest corporation in Canada is the Hudson's Bay Company ; though its business has always been based in Canada, its Royal Charter was issued in England by King Charles II in 1670, and became a Canadian charter by amendment in 1970 when it moved its corporate headquarters from London to Canada. Federally recognized corporations are regulated by

13974-539: The late 1990s Russia was badly affected by a deepening of the economic crisis, in the course of which Bank Menatep became insolvent. "When the former banker acquired his 36% stake in Yukos... most people assumed he would cash out as soon as a rich opportunity presented itself. The surprise was that he actually had a head for the oil business. He seemed to relish the job of turning Yukos into a world-class oil company. And he has succeeded." - Bloomberg BusinessWeek, October 2003 Yukos however recovered very quickly and, in

14111-582: The lobbies most prominent in Canada, Australia, the United States and Europe, however the lobbies are present in many parts of the world. Big Oil companies such as ExxonMobil , Shell , BP , TotalEnergies , Chevron Corporation , and ConocoPhillips are among the largest corporations associated with the fossil fuels lobby. The American Petroleum Institute is a powerful industry lobbyist for Big Oil with significant influence in Washington, D.C. In Australia, Australian Energy Producers , formerly known as

14248-503: The loss of an appeal by the firm. Menatep , the company representing Khodorkovsky, promised to challenge the sale's legality in a number of countries, and to sue the buyer and any company helping to fund the deal. The expected buyer was the 38% Russian state owned company OAO Gazprom . Some European and American oil firms decided not to bid. On December 19, 2004, the Baikalfinansgrup , an unknown company registered several days before

14385-485: The main reason for high inflation," noting that "energy prices indirectly affect virtually every part of the economy". Sectors that raise prices significantly as a result of higher fossil fuel prices include transportation, food, and shipping. Mark Zandi of Moody's says that fossil fuel prices have driven every big episode of inflation since WWII. The economic impact of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022

14522-481: The majority of corporations are privately held , or closely held, so there is no ready market for the trading of shares. Many such corporations are owned and managed by a small group of businesspeople or companies, but the size of such a corporation can be as vast as the largest public corporations. Closely held corporations have some advantages over publicly traded corporations. A small, closely held company can often make company-changing decisions much more rapidly than

14659-408: The market capitalization of my company". At the peak of its success, Yukos was producing 20% of Russian oil—about 2% of world production; in its final year before being broken up (2003–2004), Yukos pumped 1.7 million barrels of oil a day. In April 2003, Yukos agreed to a merger/takeover with Sibneft , to create the fourth largest private company in the world, although this merger became undone in

14796-578: The murder of Vladimir Petukhov , mayor of the Yugansk oil province in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and a vehement opponent of Yukos, on Khodorkovsky's birthday in 1998. Initially, Yukos, like most other Russian energy companies, was badly affected by the economic recession of the 1990s; subsequent to acquiring Yukos, accusations were made of other parties being squeezed out, and Yukos became formally owned by Rosprom, Menatep's holding company. In

14933-407: The oligarchs could have faced similar charges; Khodorkovsky's imprisonment made them so docile that Putin confined himself to making an example of just one victim" . Control of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's shares in the Russian oil giant Yukos have passed to Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild upon his arrest. At the time of his arrest, Khodorkovsky was believed to be the wealthiest man in Russia and

15070-463: The open atmosphere to produce heat. The use of peat as a domestic fuel predates recorded history. Coal was burned in some early furnaces for the smelting of metal ore , while semi-solid hydrocarbons from oil seeps were also burned in ancient times, they were mostly used for waterproofing and embalming . Commercial exploitation of petroleum began in the 19th century. Natural gas, once flared-off as an unneeded byproduct of petroleum production,

15207-586: The outcome of this vote was already fixed and therefore this meeting would qualify as a "sham". The Yukos Oil Company's former shareholders and management filed a series of claims in courts and arbitration panels in various countries, seeking compensation for their expropriation. The largest, for over $ 100 billion, was filed at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2007 and resulted in the arbitrators awarding Yukos majority shareholders over US$ 50 billion in damages. US and Russian investors, representing about 15 percent and 5 percent of Yukos, respectively, lack

15344-530: The owner of 78% of Yukos shares following a two-stage auction in December 1995 and Khodorkovsky became its CEO, and from 1997, also its chairman. "In those days [the "anarchic Yeltsin years"] everyone in Russia was engaged in the primary accumulation of capital. Even when laws existed, they were not very rigorously followed. Therefore, if you conducted yourself too much in a Western manner, you were simply torn to pieces and forgotten." - Khodororkovsky, quoted in

15481-468: The past. The total final award in damages announced by the Permanent Court of Arbitration on July 18, 2014 was some $ 50 billion. The European Court of Human Rights ruled for Russia to pay the former owners Yukos €1.87 billion ($ 2.51 billion) in compensation for unfair proceedings of the tax evasion case. Yukos is asking for $ 333 million to cover losses incurred after its accounts were frozen plus costs and interests. On 20 April 2016

15618-465: The person of somebody who is really the directing mind and will of the corporation, the very ego and centre of the personality of the corporation. This 'directing will' is embodied in a corporate Board of Directors. The legal personality has two economic implications. It grants creditors (as opposed to shareholders or employees) priority over the corporate assets upon liquidation. Second, corporate assets cannot be withdrawn by its shareholders, and assets of

15755-437: The political arena. The company was created on April 15, 1993 by Resolution No. 354 of the Russian government , following Presidential Decree No. 1403 (November 17, 1992), which had directed the government to transfer its directly owned oil and gas operations into separate companies, in preparation for privatization, with the aim of developing the oil and gas sector in Russia. OAO Yukos Oil Company, known as Yukos (ЮКОС)

15892-408: The poor hardest, but subsidies are rarely well-targeted to protect vulnerable groups and tend to benefit better-off segments of the population." The fossil fuels lobby includes paid representatives of corporations involved in the fossil fuel industry ( oil , gas , coal ), as well as related industries like chemicals , plastics , aviation and other transportation. Because of their wealth and

16029-426: The profits represented by the dividend have already been taxed. The company profit being passed on is thus effectively taxed only at the rate of tax paid by the eventual recipient of the dividend. In other systems, dividends are taxed at a lower rate than other income (for example, in the US), or shareholders are taxed directly on the corporation's profits, while dividends are not taxed (for example, S corporations in

16166-417: The public limited company is called akciová společnost ( a.s. ) and its private counterpart is called společnost s ručením omezeným ( s.r.o. ). Their Slovak equivalents are called akciová spoločnosť ( a.s. ) and spoločnosť s ručením obmedzeným ( s.r.o. ). Germany , Austria , Switzerland and Liechtenstein recognize two forms of company limited by shares:

16303-499: The second wave of privatization that did take place—in particular, the "loans-for-shares" scheme, in which major Russian banks obtained shares in firms with strong potential as collateral for loans to the state—turned into a fraudulent shambles, which drew criticism from many" John Nellis, Center for Global Development In Putin and the Oligarch , Richard Sakwa offers a second perspective, that with oil prices varying from $ 16 to $ 25

16440-441: The tax bill was "slashed". Just over a year later Yuganskneftegaz was formally valued by Rosneft at $ 56 billion. On February 7, 2006, in response to a question posed by a Spanish journalist, Russian President Vladimir Putin disclosed that Rosneft had used Baikalfinansgrup as a vehicle to acquire Yuganskneftegaz to protect itself against litigation risks. Yukos was bankrupted in 2006 and liquidated in 2007. In July 2004, Yukos

16577-477: The tax claims put the "total tax burden" for 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 at 67%, 105%, 111%, and 83% of the company's declared revenue during those years. As a comparison, the annual tax bill of Gazprom is about US$ 4 billion on 2003 revenues of US$ 28.867 billion. Yukos' parent company, Menatep, lobbied extensively and successfully to influence Western public opinion, retaining Margery Kraus of APCO who successfully pushed through resolutions inter alia before

16714-686: The term "fossil fuel" occurs in the work of the German chemist Caspar Neumann , in English translation in 1759. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that in the phrase "fossil fuel" the adjective "fossil" means "[o]btained by digging; found buried in the earth", which dates to at least 1652, before the English noun "fossil" came to refer primarily to long-dead organisms in the early 18th century. Aquatic phytoplankton and zooplankton that died and sedimented in large quantities under anoxic conditions millions of years ago began forming petroleum and natural gas as

16851-428: The value of their individual investments varied considerably, as much as eightfold. Likewise, each party's share of the profits varied greatly, evidently in proportion to its overall share in the total investment. While social and family ties may have shaped the circle of potential coinvestors, they affected little, if at all, an investor's eventual share of the profits, or losses. Finding the earliest joint-stock company

16988-560: The world and over 60% of its electricity supply were from fossil fuels. The large-scale burning of fossil fuels causes serious environmental damage . Over 70% of the greenhouse gas emissions due to human activity in 2022 was carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) released from burning fossil fuels. Natural carbon cycle processes on Earth, mostly absorption by the ocean , can remove only a small part of this, and terrestrial vegetation loss due to deforestation , land degradation and desertification further compounds this deficiency. Therefore, there

17125-491: The world climate change is negatively impacting ecosystems . This includes contributing to the extinction of species and reducing people's ability to produce food, thus adding to the problem of world hunger . Continued rises in global temperatures will lead to further adverse effects on both ecosystems and people; the World Health Organization has said that climate change is the greatest threat to human health in

17262-654: Was banking group Bank Menatep , chaired by its co-founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky , a 32-year-old early import-export (1987) and banking entrepreneur (1989), former chairman of the Investment Fund for Assistance to the Fuel and Oil Industry (1992), former deputy minister of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy (briefly in 1993), and CEO of Rosprom, an investment and holding company created to manage Menatep's portfolio of around 30 large industrial companies (140,000 employees). Menatep became

17399-401: Was listed by Forbes as the 16th richest person in the world, with a fortune estimated at $ 15 billion. His eventual sentence in 2005 was for 10 years, and attracted widespread international concern related to a perceived political motivation and lack of due process . (The European Court of Human Rights eventually ruled that while the arrest and several other points were unlawful, he

17536-480: Was a major recent example of fossil fuels causing inflation. Some economists, including Isabel Schnabel , believe that dependence on fossil fuels is the main driver of the 2021-2022 inflation spike . Gernot Wagner argues that commodities are undesirable energy sources because they are susceptible to volatile price swings that technologies like renewable energy are not. He also argues that technologies improve and get relatively cheaper over time. Coming out of

17673-425: Was banking and export driven following perestroika in the 1980s.) "[O]wnership of some of Russia's most valuable resources was auctioned off by oligarch-owned banks... Although they were supposedly acting on behalf of the state, the bankers rigged the process-and in almost every case ended up as the successful bidders. This was how Khodorkovsky got a 78 percent share of ownership in Yukos, worth about $ 5 billion, for

17810-472: Was charged with tax evasion, for an amount of over US$ 27 billion. The Russian government accused the company of misusing tax havens inside Russia in the 1990s so as to reduce its tax burden; havens were set up by most major oil producers in outlying areas of Russia which had been granted special tax status to assist in their economic development; such "onshore-offshore" were used to evade profit taxes, resulting in Yukos having an effective tax rate of 11%, vs

17947-610: Was granted in 1555. The most notable joint-stock company from the British Isles was the East India Company , which was granted a royal charter by Queen Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600 with the intention of establishing trade on the Indian subcontinent . The charter effectively granted the newly formed Honourable East India Company a fifteen-year monopoly on all English trade in the East Indies . Soon afterwards, in 1602,

18084-753: Was listed and it reached a US$ 2 trillion valuation on its second day of trading, after the world's largest initial public offering. Fossil fuel subsidies are energy subsidies on fossil fuels, and in 2023 totalled over 1 trillion dollars. They may be tax breaks on consumption , such as a lower sales tax on natural gas for residential heating ; or subsidies on production , such as tax breaks on exploration for oil . Or they may be free or cheap negative externalities ; such as air pollution or climate change due to burning gasoline , diesel and jet fuel . Some fossil fuel subsidies are via electricity generation , such as subsidies for coal-fired power stations . Eliminating fossil fuel subsidies would reduce

18221-453: Was not a "political prisoner" since the charges against him had been based on reasonable suspicion .) The arrest was followed by a tax investigation into Yukos by the tax authorities, in December 2003, after which in April 2004 Yukos was issued in stages with tax claims for $ 27 billion, a sum that exceeded its total revenues for 2002 and 2003. At the same time, Yukos' assets were frozen by

18358-519: Was one of the companies so formed, on 12 May 1993. Its initial assets included: The company was named after these assets, "Yuganskneftegaz" + "KuybyshevnefteOrgSintez". The Samaraneftegaz ("Samara Oil and Gas") refinery was added to Yukos in 1995 under decree No. 864, and it later incorporated eight distribution companies in Central Russia and Siberia and assorted technical businesses. The first chairman and president appointed to lead Yukos, then still

18495-488: Was possible by royal charter or private act , and it was limited because of the government's jealous protection of the privileges and advantages thereby granted. As a result of the rapid expansion of capital-intensive enterprises in the course of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the United States, many businesses came to be operated as unincorporated associations or extended partnerships , with large numbers of members. Nevertheless, membership of such associations

18632-426: Was sold for $ 9.35 billion in a closed-room auction of just two bidders (one of which, Gazpromneft , was subject to a US court injunction and did not enter a bid ), and an unknown front company called Baikalfinansgrup which had been registered a few days before the auction, and whose bid was financed by state-owned oil company Rosneft . Rosneft acquired Baikalfinansgrup within days of the auction, at which point

18769-399: Was usually for a short term so their nature was constantly changing. Consequently, registration and incorporation of companies, without specific legislation, was introduced by the Joint Stock Companies Act 1844 . Initially, companies incorporated under this Act did not have limited liability, but it became common for companies to include a limited liability clause in their internal rules. In

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