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SOCAR Received a Credit at $175mln.

Oil&Gas Materials 22 November 2006 20:45 (UTC +04:00)

Signing of a credit agreemnt between SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) and banks ''Societe Generalle'' and ''ABN AMRO'' at the amount of $175 mln. has been held in Baku, Trend reports.

A contract on the gas condensate field Shahdaniz was signed on June 4, 1996, Within the project, Affiliated Company SOCAR had 20 percent.

However, as a result of some financial problems, Affiliated Company SOCAR passed half of its share in the project (10%) to French Total. According to the contract, from 1997 to 2003, the rest of SOCAR share was financed by the French Company. The financing was implemented only during the exploratory works on the project. To finance forwarded works, Azerbaijan received a credit at $170 mln. ($110 mln for Shahdaniz Project and $60 for the South Caucasian Gas Main Project) from EBRD on December 15, 2004. The interest rate on the project was Libor +4%.

To reduce the above-mentioned interest rate, SOCAR made a decision to receive another credit from international financial institutions but with a less interest rate. This credit will allow eliminating the debts to EBRD. The interest rate of the present credit is Libor +0,85%. All that has brought to the surplus between the two credits at 3,15%. The above-credit was granted without a state security.

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