OREANDA-NEWS. On 21 July 2008 JSC "Gazprom neft" announced that syndication of the USD 1bln syndicated Loan Facility has successfully closed. Syndicate banks were signed into the Facility via a syndication agreement on 4th July. In spite of the difficult market conditions the facility was oversubscribed and closed within a short timeframe.

The Facility was arranged by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. ("BBVA"), The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. ("BTMU"), Barclays Capital (the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation ("SMBC") and WestLB AG, London Branch ("WestLB"), (together the "Initial Mandated Lead Arrangers" or the "Bookrunners").

The Facility comprises two tranches: a 3 year tranche and a five year tranche Margins are 150bp p.a. and 175bp p.a. respectively.The proceeds of the facility will be used for general corporate purposes and for refinancing of existing indebtedness.

WestLB AG, London Branch acted as documentation bank and Facility Agent. SMBC acted as co-ordinator.