by Japheth J Omojuwa The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has obtained
a $1.5 billion syndicated loan to help it pay debts to international
fuel traders, Reuters reported Monday, quoting a senior banking source
with knowledge of the deal.
The deal struck at the end of last year is seen as crucial to easing
the burden on big commodity traders, who were facing the prospect of
painful multimillion dollar write-offs.
The loan, provided by several Nigerian and international banks and
brokered by Standard Chartered Bank Plc, will be paid back over
five-and-a-half years, the news agency reported, adding that the
corporation has put up 15,000 barrels per day of its oil production as
collateral.
A report last year by Bloomberg stated that the state oil company and
ExxonMobil Corporation, the world's largest energy company by market
value, were seeking a $1.5 billion loan for a joint venture to develop
offshore oil fields in Nigeria.
Standard Chartered and South African lenders, Standard Bank Group Ltd
and Nedbank Group Ltd, were among the banks reported to be involved in
the deal.
It could not be ascertained whether the said loan was the same $1.5
billion five-year amortising restructuring syndicated loan the NNPC was
reported to have been seeking in the last quarter of 2011, to secure
from international lenders.
It had been indicated then that the deal would mark NNPC's first foreign syndicated loan.
BNP Paribas, Standard Bank and Standard Chartered had been identified as arranging that loan.
The inability of the Federal Government to pay the corporation its
$8.1 billion subsidy claims is said to be straining its ability to
import petroleum products and has added to its financial burden after
private companies stopped importing earlier last year.
The corporation, which used to account for about 50 per cent of
Nigeria's imports, is importing virtually all domestic petrol
requirements, as private companies have shunned imports owing to delays
in payment of their subsidy claims by the government.
AfricanLiberty.com
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