Russian oil company Rosneft has signed two loan agreements totalling US$16.8bn to finance the acquisition of a 50% stake in TNK-BP.

The financing is split between a five-year, US$4.1bn, and a two-year, US$12.7bn facility, extended by a group of international banks including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BNP Paribas, BTMU, Citibank, Crédit Agricole, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, JP Morgan, Mizuho Corporate Bank, Natixis, Nordea, SMBC, Sociéte Générale and UniCredit, all mandated lead arrangers and lenders.

Rosneft president and chairman of the management board Igor Sechin says: “The company has reached an understanding with leading international financial institutions in the domain of its strategic projects. We would like to thank our financial partners for prompt decision-making ensuring the completion of the deal unprecedented for the Russian market.”

Earlier in December 2012, Rosneft agreed long-term crude supply contracts with commodity traders Glencore and Vitol. The Russian firm plans to sign contracts with a prepayment for a duration of five years to supply up to 67 million tonnes of crude in total, with supply expected to start in 2013.

The parties also agreed the possibility of replacing crude supplies with respective petroleum product supplies for various supply routes. Sechin adds that “the price formula is in line with the prices that Rosneft receives for crude at medium-term tenders”.

Rosneft is said to be seeking up to US$10mn in trade financing from commodity traders to complete its takeover of TNK-BP, but no one at Rosneft or at the banks involved in the acquisition loan was able to confirm this information when contacted by GTR.