Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 17
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
The Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR obtained permission from the Finance Ministry to get a loan of $500 million, Suleyman Gasimov, SOCAR vice president for economic issues, told reporters in Baku Jan. 17.
In 2016, SOCAR requested from Azerbaijan’s Finance Ministry a permission to get a loan worth $500 million, according to him.
“We got the permission in November 2016, and then sent inquiries to different banks we cooperate with and got responses. The company [SOCAR] formed a list of banks and started meeting with the banks’ representatives in December 2016. The list of the banks includes the Deutsche Bank (Germany), Mitsui (Japan), Natixis (France) and Intesa (Italy),” Gasimov said.
He noted that the first $100 million loan from Deutsche Bank will be issued by late January and it will be used to repay the remaining part of the principal amount on Eurobonds.
“We take loans in different amounts from different banks. We were initially offered a syndicated loan, but we refused as the funds will be needed at different times. Some $100 million will be taken as part of the project to construct the STAR oil refinery in Turkey. The remaining part will be taken stepwise during the year to repay our main loans,” Gasimov said.