Naftogaz seeks to receive up to $500 mln loan from World Bank in 2016 to buy gas
National joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy continues negotiations on a possibility of raising a loan or loan guarantees from the World Bank in the amount of up to $500 million. The funds will be used to buy natural gas for the coming heating season, Naftogaz Head Andriy Kobolev has said.
"We are working on the loan for over a year… We hope that this year this transaction would take place," he said on Channel 5 TV late on Monday.
Kobolev said that the work with this loan is more difficult compared to the loan taken from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Naftogaz raised the first tranche of $300 million from the EBRD for the previous heating season. The holding has already repaid the loan.
He said that the funds from the World Bank would be also sent to buy natural gas from Russia's Gazprom if the Russian company offers better conditions than sellers from Europe.
As reported, Presidents of the European Investment bank (EIB) Werner Hoyer and World Bank Jim Yong Kim on October 9, 2015 in Lima (Peru) signed an EU-secured agreement to raise loans worth up to $520 million for purchase of gas by Naftogaz Ukrainy both from Europe and Russia.
