THE Russian government is on the brink of sparking a second world oil crisis in as many months as it enforces a tax claim on its largest oil producer.

The authorities are pressing for the immediate payment of a near-£2bn back tax bill by Yukos for 2000.

The Russian company last night said bailiffs had been called in and were threatening to shut down production.

The threat sent oil prices spiralling near the 21-year high recorded last year.

A barrel of crude moved 41 cents higher to $42.25 in New York, only 20 cents from last month's peak figure.

Last month's price crisis forced Opec, the group of oil producing countries, to raise production levels by two million barrels a day.

Were Yukos to cease production, it would wipe out that emergency measure. The company produces 1.7 million barrels a day, equivalent to two per cent of the world's oil.

Investec oil expert Bruce Evers said: "The markets are so nervous about supply at the moment that any bad news from Yukos is going to send the markets into a panic.

"If Yukos really does stop its production, then all hell is going to break loose."

The company said it did not have the ready money to pay the tax debt, and court orders have frozen assets that it could tap to raise money.

Its officials have warned repeatedly that the company is being driven toward bankruptcy. The ramifications of the stand-off between the Russian government and Yukos will be extensive.

Yukos exports about 55 million barrels of oil a year by rail to China. The company's other exports go primarily to Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the former Soviet Baltic countries.

Factors, including disruption in Iraq and a lack of spare production capacity, have been driving the cost back towards the $42 level in recent weeks.

On Tuesday, BP chief executive Lord Browne said he believed prices would remain high due to limited spare capacity and growth in demand.

Shares in BP and Shell rose on the back of yesterday's news, while British Airways dipped slightly.