Sberbank of Russia ready to lend €2bn for Belarusian Naftan project

Sberbank of Russia is ready to allocate €2 billion for building new plants of the Belarusian company OAO Naftan, BelTA learned from First Vice Premier of Belarus Vladimir Semashko during the Belarusian Industrial Week on 21 May.

“Literally the day after tomorrow we will sign a memorandum with Russian Sberbank and our Naftan on investing €2 billion in the construction of a new complex,” said the First Vice Premier. He contemplated that the loan will be granted against guarantees of the Belarus government.

Representatives of OAO Naftan told BelTA that the money will be used to finance the investment program for developing the company’s oil-processing business. The program is designed to run in 2015-2020.

The Novopolotsk-based oil refinery was commissioned in 1963. The enterprise was reincorporated in 2002 as a joint-stock company. In 2008 the large chemical enterprise Polymir was merged with Naftan. OAO Naftan’s development program for 2010-2015 provides for increasing the oil processing volume up to 12 million tonnes per year.