Today Tokyo (Japan) saw the signing of a package of loan documentation worth a total of USD 5.3 bln. The deal was clinched as a result of the successful joint work of the Sakhalin II project shareholders led by Gazprom, Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. and a group of advising banks and creditors. Leading the project on the part of Gazprom was Andrey Kruglov, Deputy Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee, Head of the Finance and Economics Department.

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation acted as the Sakhalin II major creditor financing USD 3.7 bln.

The rest of the financing (USD 1.6 bln) was provided by a consortium of the largest Japanese and West European commercial banks.

Background:

The structure and amount of the project financing for the Sakhalin II project investment program had been preliminary agreed upon in the course of the talks with creditor banks in mid-2006.

At that moment the terms of the deal envisaged participation of a whole range of state and international financial institutions alongside with commercial banks. The total amount of the financing was identified at the level of USD 6.7 bln.

In April 2007, Gazprom acquired a controlling stake in Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. Upon completion of the deal the project company’s shareholding structure is as follows: Gazprom holds a 50 per cent plus one share stake, Shell – 27.5 per cent, Mitsui – 12.5 per cent and Mitsubishi – 10 per cent.

Upon restructuring of the equity capital in Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. the talks with banks resumed and the composition of the project creditors underwent certain changes. The subsequent efforts of the project stakeholders – Gazprom as the majority shareholder, Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi as well as Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. and a group of advising banks and creditors resulted in the foregoing USD 5.3 bln fund raising.