BP Share News (BP.)

* Raises $16.8 bln in loans to buy out BP stake in TNK-BP * Agrees terms on supply deals with Glencore, Vitol * Plans to sign 5-yr deals to supply 67 mln T of crude * Rosneft's $55 bln takeover of TNK-BP is Russia's biggest By Douglas Busvine and Vladimir Soldatkin MOSCOW, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Rosneft, seeking tofinance Russia's largest-ever takeover deal, has raised $16.8billion in bank loans and agreed on long-term trade financedeals with the world's largest oil traders, Glencore and Vitol. The state-controlled company said on Monday the loans raisedfrom Western banks would be sufficient to cover its acquisitionof the 50 percent of Anglo-Russian oil firm TNK-BP which it is buying from BP for $27 billion in cash andstock. The company also said it has agreed terms with Glencore andVitol to supply them with up to 67 million tonnes of crude oilover five years under a trade finance deal, equivalent to around270,000 barrels a day of oil. Rosneft is due to buy the rest of TNK-BP from the AARconsortium of Russian-born business tycoons for $28 billion,completing the takeover of Russia's third-biggest oil producerto make Rosneft the world's largest listed oil company, withdaily output equivalent to 4.6 million barrels per day. It was not clear whether the oil supply deals would help payfor the purchase of AAR's stake in TNK-BP but sources close toRosneft and potential lenders told Reuters recently that Rosneft had been talks about using future oil exports as collateral tohelp pay for the TNK-BP deal. The details of the agreements with Glencore and Vitol werenot disclosed but industry sources said the deals will giveRosneft around $10 billion in advance payments from the traders,who will in turn borrow the money from their banks, in returnfor securing long-term access to oil from the world'slargest-producing nation. "The price formula is in line with the prices Rosneftreceives for crude at medium-term tenders," Rosneft's chiefexecutive Igor Sechin said in a statement. Assuming the full volumes are delivered, Rosneft wouldsupply the oil traders with around 270,000 barrels per day ofoil - or over a tenth of its current output. The pricing termswere not diclosed, nor was the level of prepayment. If the oil price averages $100 per barrel, the contractswould on paper be worth around $50 billion. Glencore's chief executive Ivan Glasenberg said on Mondaythe announced agreement "further cements our relationship withone of the world's leading oil and gas companies", while Vitol'spresident and chief executive, Ian Taylor, hailed his deal as a"long term, strategic partnership" with Rosneft. TWO LEGS Rosneft will buy out BP's half stake in TNK-BP for $17.1billion in cash and 12.8 percent of its own shares, bringingdown the curtain on a profitable but fractious alliance betweenBP and the oligarchs struck back in 2003. In the second leg of the takeover, Rosneft has agreed to pay$28 billion in cash to the AAR consortium, representingbillionaires Mikhail Fridman, German Khan, Viktor Vekselberg andLen Blavatnik. Subject to regulatory approvals, the takeover is expected toclose in the first half of 2013. Commenting on the bank financing it had raised for thepurchase of BP's 50 percent in TNK-BP, Rosneft said it hadobtained a 5-year loan of $4.1 billion and a 2-year loan of$12.7 billion from a group of international banks. The banks include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BarclaysBank, BNP Paribas, BTMU, Citibank, Credit Agricole, ING Bank,Intesa Sanpaolo Banking Group, J.P. Morgan, Mizuho CorporateBank, Natixis, Nordea Bank, SMBC, Societe Generale and UnicreditBank. All are acting as mandated lead arrangers and lenders. Sources familiar with the matter have said that Rosneftcould also refinance up to $10 billion of the cost of the TNK-BPtakeover deal on the bond market, ultimately raising more thanit needs to close the transaction.