THE Russian Justice Ministry has lifted a freeze on the property of three subsidiaries of the Yukos oil group, easing concerns of a world oil crisis.

Yukos, Russia's largest oil producer, said that bailiffs' orders telling three Yukos subsidiaries to cease all sale of company property could mean a halt to production in the near future.

Fears of a disruption of supplies from Yukos, which produces two per cent of the world's oil, contributed to a sharp rise in world oil prices, with trading in the US reaching an all-time high.

It also pushed Yukos shares into a new nosedive, but early trading in Moscow yesterday saw the stock recover substantially, gaining 18 per cent on the RTS exchange.

Nonetheless Yukos stock has lost about two-thirds of its value since October last year, shortly before the arrest of its then-chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

The order against the three production subsidiaries was in connection with Yukos's overdue back taxes bill of £2bn.

The company said it did not have the cash on hand to pay the bill in full, and its proposals to stagger the payments over several years have brought no public response from the government.

Earlier this month, bailiffs said Yukos' largest production subsidiary, Yuganskneftegaz, was being prepared for sale by the state in an effort to settle the tax bill.

Yuganskneftegaz was one of the three production units for which the property freeze was lifted.