Russia's Agency for the Management of Federal Property sold Yuganskneftegaz December 19, 2005 to BaikalFinanceGroup for $9.35 billion, the sum which experts said was far below the unit's real value. Yugansk was later sold on to Russia's state-run oil company Rosneft.
Yukos, which was declared bankrupt in August following three years of prosecution, is now seeking to invalidate the deal and wants $14.8 billion in damages.
On Monday, the court concluded preliminary hearings.
Yukos filed the lawsuit in May 2005, claiming that the production unit was sold in violation of Russian and international law, and that the starting price was deliberately undervalued.
The Federal Bailiff Service decided to sell off Yugansk to cover the embattled company's massive $20 billion tax bill on November 18, 2004.
Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky is currently serving an eight-year prison term in Siberia after the court found him guilty of fraud and tax evasion in May 2005.
