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First EBRD corporate loan to Russian oil company
One of Russia's largest oil production companies, Chernogorneft O.A.O., is to receive a US$ 50 million (ECU 43.4 million) loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to finance a drilling programme as well as the replacement of corroded pipes and the recultivation of contaminated areas. This is the EBRD's first corporate loan to a Russian oil company.
"The EBRD's loan is significant as Chernogorneft is the first oil company in Russia to have a Western reserve audit and financial statements audited in accordance with international accounting standards," said Ron Freeman, First Vice President at the EBRD. "Other Russian oil companies will follow Chernogorneft's lead in attracting outside financing through full disclosure of reserves and financial performance."
Nikolai Smolyar, First Vice President of Chernogorneft, said: "The loan will enable Chernogorneft to stabilise, develop and increase oil recovery from the Samotlor oil field in Russia's western Siberia and to carry out an environmental action plan which will help to accelerate the environmental programmes currently under implementation."
Chernogorneft became Russia's first private oil company when it was separated in 1990 from the state-owned company, Nizhnevartovskneftegaz. Today, it is a subsidiary of the Russian vertically integrated oil company Sidanco. Chernogorneft produced 41 million barrels of oil in 1996.
The EBRD has already an established relationship with Chernogorneft through a US$ 40 million (ECU 34.8 million) loan provided in 1993 to a joint-venture company owned by Chernogorneft and the American company Anderman/Smith Overseas Inc.
To date, the EBRD has lent more than ECU 650 million to the oil and gas sector in Russia and ECU 1.7 billion to Russian projects overall.
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