Rosneft entered into contracts for securing two loans in the amount of USD16.8 billion from a consortium of world banks to finance the company’s acquisition of a 50-percent stake in TNK-BP.

In line with the agreements, Rosneft is to borrow USD4.1 billion with a repayment term of five years and USD12.7 billion with a repayment term of two years.

Credit was extended to Rosneft from a group of banks that includes Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Barclays Bank, BNP Paribas, BTMU, Citibank, Credit Agricole, ING Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo Banking Group, J.P. Morgan, Mizuho Corporate Bank, Natixis, Nordea Bank, SMBC, Societe Generale, and Unicredit Bank.

In his comments, Igor Sechin, the head of Rosneft, noted that the company was able to achieve mutual understanding with the world’s largest lending institutions as to the advancement of its strategic interests. The Russian oil executive also thanked the banks for their prompt action in approving the deal by late December. Igor Sechin further noted that Rosneft’s acquisition of TNK-BP is an unprecedented corporate transaction on the Russian market.