Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr S. Aliyev / State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) is holding negotiations with BNP Paribas and other large foreign banks on the re-financing of the remaining part of the credit allotted in 2006 at the amount of $750mln for the financing of Azerbaijani shares in the project on the development of Azeri- Chirag -Guneshli oil field, SOCAR vice president on economic issues, Suleyman Gasymov , reported on the 5th of June.
SOCAR is a shareholder of the Azeri- Chirag -Guneshli project (10%). The credit received by SOCAR last year enables the company to restore the right of ownership in the project in accordance with the Production Sharing Agreement. Azerbaijani shares in the project were financed by the US ExxonMobil company and Turkish TPAO. The expenditures of the companies made up some $600mln. The annual interest rate for the credit allotted to SOCAR in 2006 comprised 1.75%. Along with BNP Paribas, another 14 banks are represented in the bank syndicate.
According to Gasymov , SOCAR is holding talks with the banks on the re-financing of the rest of the credit at 0.6% interest rate.
"We received a conditional credit at $500mln. However, after the estimation of the volume of oil transported for repayment of the credit, the rest will be returned. Some $439-449mln remains to be paid off," the vice president stated.