Kufpec said to tap banks for over $1bn loan

Request for proposals sent

DUBAI, June 13, (RTRS): Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (Kufpec), a subsidiary of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, is seeking a five-year loan of over $1 billion, banking sources familiar with the matter said.

The company has sent a request for proposals to banks for a facility offering an interest margin of less than 100 basis points over the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), one of the bankers said.

Kufpec, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, is responsible for exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas outside Kuwait.

It will use the loan proceeds for general corporate purposes and capital expenditure, the sources said.

The company has borrowed extensively through similar large loan facilities in the past. In 2014 it raised a $1 billion five-year loan, with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi-UFJ, HSBC, JP Morgan, National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) and Royal Bank of Scotland as underwriters. The following year it added some $1.5 billion to the same facility.

Another unit of Kuwait petroleum Corp, Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC), is in the market for a big debt transaction, involving commercial banks and export credit agencies, for the construction of a liquefied natural gas import terminal, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters last month.

Some Kuwaiti banks, as well as one Abu Dhabi-based bank, are expected to have lead roles in Kufpec’s new deal, which should be completed over the next couple of months, banking sources said.