Oman Oil mandates banks for $1.2bn revolving credit facility

Oman Oil Co, the Omani state-run petroleum firm, has mandated a group of regional and international banks to arrange a $1.2bn revolving credit facility, banking sources said on Tuesday.

The loan would refinance a $1bn revolving facility which the company obtained in 2014 and which is due for redemption this year. That loan was the shorter-dated tranche of a $1.85bn revolving credit facility, which also included a five-year, $850m tranche.

The new revolver would have a five-year maturity and be provided by banks including Barclays, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Credit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, Natixis, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, the sources said.

Oman Oil is expected to sign the loan facility in June, said the sources, who declined to be named because the matter is not yet public. Telephone calls and an email to Oman Oil’s chief financial officer seeking comment were not answered.

Deutsche Bank and HSBC declined to comment. BTMU said it could not confirm its involvement until the deal closed. The other banks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Oman Oil’s loan would be the first of a number of fund-raising exercises that the Omani firm plans, bankers said.

In a joint venture with Kuwait Petroleum International, Oman Oil is also raising billions of dollars for the development of the Duqm Refinery, a project expected to have a processing capacity of 230,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The company is also considering raising a secured loan facility which could go up to $1.5bn, with Natixis and SMBC having lead roles, bankers said.

Oman Oil’s funding through U.S. dollar-denominated loans is in line with a wider push by the Omani government to raise international finance to reduce pressure on its state finances, which are being strained by low oil prices.

Oman has increasingly relied on external borrowing through both bonds and loans; government debt has risen from 4.8 per cent of gross domestic product in 2014 to a projected 35 per cent in 2017, according to a research report by Standard Chartered.