THE merger of Gazprom and Rosneft is being delayed as the Kremlin tip-toes through a minefield of potential hazards created by the management and shareholders of Yukos, the oil company besieged by claims for unpaid tax.

Completion of the merger, which will stitch together the world’s largest gas producer with the Russian state oil company, is postponed until March, according to reports from Interfax, the Russia state news agency.

The delays to the deal relate to legal manoeuvres by Yukos in the US courts, where the oil company is seeking to prevent the transfer of its largest subsidiary, Yuganskneftegaz, to Rosneft. The Yukos management nearly scuppered the bailiffs’ sale of Yugansk by preventing foreign banks from financing a Rosneft or Gazprom bid for the asset. It was sold to a shell company, Baikal Finance Group, with a $1.7 million (£912 million) loan from Surgutneftegaz, an energy company friendly to the Russian government.

What is unclear is how Rosneft was able to settle the $9 billion bill for acquiring Yugansk from Baikal. United Financial Group, a Moscow brokerage suspects a loan from Rosneft’s shareholder: “They probably got a bridging loan from the Russian taxpayer,” commented Christopher Granville, an analyst at UFG.

However, the broker believes Gazprom may be able to secure its objective of merging with Rosneft without incurring the potential liability of an asset deemed stolen by US courts.