A CHINESE official said yesterday that Beijing was interested in buying the prize asset of Yukos, the Russian oil company on the brink of collapse.

A successful bid from China, which needs to ensure its oil supply, would mean one of Russia’s most important businesses being renationalised, albeit by another country.

In a surprise move, a senior official from China’s Moscow embassy is reported to have said that Beijing would be very interested in the potential $30 billion (£17.3 billion) acquisition of Yuganskneftegaz which accounts for 60 per cent of Yukos’s oil production.

Fan Chunyong, an economics councillor at China’s Moscow embassy, said yesterday: “We are very interested in taking part in the bidding. But the question is what policies the Russian Government takes toward foreign companies.”

Neither the Kremlin nor Yukos has declared Yuganskneftegaz for sale, although the Kremlin last week appointed Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein to value the asset.

Russia’s Government has placed an initial $1.7 billion value on Yuganskneftegaz, although analysts believe a sale would realise between $10 billion and $20 billion. Yukos is thought to value its main asset at $30 billion.

China’s declaration of interest in the Yukos operation comes as the country is becoming increasingly dependent on external energy sources.

China is one of the world’s biggest oil importers and Yukos provides about 150,000 barrels of oil, about 7 per cent, of its daily consumption.

Analysts in Moscow said it was unlikely that a foreign operator would be allowed to buy Yuganskneftegaz. Instead, they say Surgutneftegas and Rosneft, two oil companies with close links to the Kremlin, would be favourites to buy should the division be sold.

China’s central Government, alarmed at the prospect of a Yukos collapse, has already written to President Putin to seek assurances that its supply will not be disrupted.

Beijing has also agreed to step in and pay Russian rail fees to ensure that it continues to receive Yukos oil, if the beleaguered company cannot cover its transport costs.

Yukos had also been backing a plan for an oil pipeline to China. Transneft, the Russian state-controlled oil monopoly, prefers Japan.