OREANDA-NEWS. February 12, 2009. The Russia’s government delegation will pay a visit to Beijing early next week where negotiations over issuing loans for a total of USD 25 bn for Rosneft and Transneft by China will take center stage, sources close to the negotiations said. In addition, one of the sources said that one of Russian state-controlled banks could provide guarantees for loan repayment.

The negotiations over a USD 15 bn loan for Rosneft and USD10 bn for Transneft have been in progress since autumn 2008 and they have been rescheduled several times due to a number of controversies. Head of Transneft Nikolai Tokarev told journalists that the main lending issues were resolved and now the issue has to be approved by political leaders. “There were such plans…next week Igor Ivanovich Sechin and Sergey Mikhailovich Bogdanchikov could travel to China” – a source familiar with preparations for the visit said. According to another source, a government delegation which Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko could also go to China.