Russia's LUKOIL borrows $1 bln to repay old debt

MOSCOW, June 20 (Reuters) - Russia's No.2 oil company LUKOIL (LKOH.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) has raised a $1 billion syndicated loan from Western banks to repay an old credit, the company said on Friday.

The loan includes a three-year $300 million tranche priced at LIBOR plus 0.85 percent a year and a $700 million, five-year tranche priced at LIBOR plus 0.95 percent.

The loan was arranged by ABN Amro, Banco Bilbao, BNP Paribas, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, ING Bank, Mizuho Corporate Bank and West LB.

"The facility has been obtained to repay the outstanding debt of LUKOIL to the syndicate of international banks that arranged financing for the purpose of acquiring Nelson Resources in 2005," the statement said.

Nelson is an oil producer in Kazakhstan.

"The new facility improves LUKOIL debt portfolio structure while the external debt burden remains practically unchanged." (Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov)