Russ Oil-Gas

23 January 2007 - Upstream onLine - Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said a report that it was seeking a $10 billion loan to buy half the Sakhalin 2 project and assets of bankrupt company Yukos was "wrong". Interfax news agency today quoted a banking source as saying that Gazprom was holding talks with bank organisers and could give a mandate within one month. "This report is wrong," said a Gazprom spokesman, who declined to give other details. Gazprom agreed last month to buy into the Sakhalin 2 project by paying $7.45 billion to existing shareholders Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi. The company also said it would look into buying gas and oil assets of bankrupt oil giant Yukos. Yukos's bankruptcy receiver is expected to begin auctioning the company's assets within months. Gazprom was forced to increase its borrowing by a third in 2006 to 118.9 billion roubles ($4.5 billion) after it bought minority stakes in Russia's second-largest gas producer, Novatek and Moscow city utility Mosenergo. The world's largest gas producer said it planned to stick to its long-term target to borrow no more than 90 billion roubles in 2007 to 2009 despite failing to deliver on its pledge in the past few years. Many analysts doubt the plan to cap borrowing is feasible in the wake of the Sakhalin 2 deal, which is due to close in the first half of this year.