Yukos oil deliveries suspended

Yukos told Interfax that its executive board had decided to temporarily suspend crude shipments to China National Petroleum Corporation, originally booked to receive one million tons before yearend. "Yukos's transport expenses and customs payments total US$150-170 per ton," a Yukos official told the news agency, adding the company did not have the cash. Earlier, Russian Railway officials had said China would foot the transport bill if Yukos could not. The company accounts for 7% of China's daily consumption of 400,000 barrels a day.