Russian oil company Rosneft has repaid part of a loan taken to pay for the acquisition of TNK-BP. Rosneft has said that on Monday, December 22, it paid around $7 billion to lenders.
According to the company, the overall amount paid throughout the year totaled $24 billion, in full accordance with the credit agreement.
Rosneft in 2012 bought TNK-BP, then third largest oil company in Russia for around $56 billion. The deal was described as the second largest oil industry acquisition in history. The largest oil deal ever is the one from 1998, when Exxon Corp. bought Mobil Corp. for $80 billion.
According to Reuters, Rosneft is due to pay a second loan of $6.9 billion in February 2015.
Rosneft Head Igor Sechin said that: “To service its debt the Company does not need to enter the currency market, because it generates enough foreign currency earnings. Surplus balances are used on the market, in such a manner.
Worth noting, Rosneft is one of three oil companies banned from raising cash in Western banks , due to sanctions imposed against Russia for its involvement in the Ukraine crisis.
The U.S. Treasury also in September added Rosneft boss Sechin to a list of Russian officials banned from entering the U.S.
At the time the Treasury said that sanctions imposed against Sechin do not include Rosneft as a company.
Offshore Energy Today Staff