Norton Rose, the international law firm, has advised the state-owned Kazakhstan oil pipeline grid operator KazTransOil (KTO) on a US$81.6mn loan facility led and arranged by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
KazTransOil, in joint venture with China’s largest oil group, CNPC, will use the proceeds from the 10-year loan for a project linking the landlocked Kazakh oilfields to its main export routes.
The loan will allow the joint venture, MunaiTas, to refinance debt incurred in constructing part of its 448km oil pipeline connecting oilfields in the Aktobe region of central Kazakhstan to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium and the Atyrau-Samara export pipelines.
The Norton Rose team was led by London partner Simon Currie supported by capital markets partner Simon Porter and assistants Melanie Wong and Diyar Kanashev.