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Russia's oil major YUKOS said on Monday it had received a notification from a group of banks declaring it in default on a $1 billion loan. The statement came after the firm was raided at the weekend by Russian tax investigators and has been hit by tax claims of almost $7 billion.

Russian police swamped the Moscow headquarters of oil company YUKOS n Saturday to take over the building, two days after a court froze its assets and gave it until next week to pay a $3.4 billion tax bill. In its initial statement following the raid the company said oil production could stop after police confiscated vital computer servers.
However, on Sunday YUKOS said police had not after all seized vital equipment that helps keep its vast oilfields running, a small comfort ahead of a week that could see it go bankrupt.
Police searched the firm's Moscow headquarters for eight hours on Saturday. YUKOS said then that computer servers had been confiscated which could halt production. YUKOS pumps around a fifth of Russia's total oil production. But it later said documents, safes and computer discs had been taken, but not the servers.
"There was an attempt to confiscate them (the servers), but at the moment those servers which are linked to oil production are in working order," YUKOS spokesman Alexander Shadrin told reporters outside the firm's central Moscow office. "There was no catastrophe, but it was close."
The U.S. ambassador to Russia, Alexander Vershbow, said the latest events were worrying. "We are watching with some concern the latest developments around YUKOS," Vershbow told Reuters. "We nevertheless continue to hope that there will be a fair criminal case ... and we hope that one of Russia's best companies continues to exist when this is over."
The raid came ahead of a week when YUKOS has to settle a $3.4 billion bill for back taxes. It has until Wednesday evening to pay up, but after a court froze its bank accounts last week it cannot even sell off assets to help. YUKOS has warned the payment could bankrupt it. That warning came before the company was hit with an additional back-tax claim for around the same amount for 2001.
The firm's shares have lost more than half their value since early April and its top shareholder, Russia's richest man Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is on trial for fraud and tax evasion. Shadrin said Saturday's raid amounted to scare tactics by the authorities. "This is the second year we've been living in this situation, so it's quite difficult to frighten us."
He said the company was puzzled why the police had seized documents relating to the company's annual general meeting that were already in the public domain. Analysts were also confused about the purpose of the police raid. "It's very sad that authorities continue to put pressure on YUKOS with such methods because they've already presented all their claims. So what else are they searching for in the headquarters?" said Ivan Mazalov, fund manager from Prosperity Capital Management.
Many of the items taken by police related to YUKOS subsidiary Samaraneftegaz, which produces over 12 million tonnes of oil per year or 15 percent of YUKOS's total. Prosecutors are investigating suspected tax evasion at Samaraneftegaz. YUKOS has received notice of potential default from banks that helped it fund a merger with oil firm Sibneft, which later turned sour.
The default could come as soon as this week, analysts said. "I don't exclude that the banks may announce a long-feared default as soon as this week," said Mazalov. "Then the company will be declared bankrupt, which is probably not the worst scenario because all the claims which were presented will be put on hold and YUKOS will be given some reasonable time to see what it can pay." Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had no interest in seeing YUKOS go bankrupt. But Khodorkovsky's arrest and the investigation into YUKOS was seen by many as a Kremlin move to curb the oil chief's political ambitions.
Khodorkovsky's trial has got off to a slow start with two adjournments. It is scheduled to restart on July 12.