Gazprom, Rosneft will repay credits

Gazprom, Rosneft will repay credits regardless of oil price - Sechin

    The level of oil prices won't impact 

Gazprom   (RTS: GAZP) and Rosneft (RTS: ROSN) companies' ability to honor 

their obligations    to   foreign   creditors, Russian Deputy Prime Minister 

Igor Sechin, has said. 

      Sechin   is   leader   of a Russian delegation to a regular session of 

the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). 

      "The   level   of   prices   for   oil   actually   does   not   affect   our

companies'   ability to repay their debts," Sechin told journalists at an 

OPEC session in Vienna on Sunday, which Russia attends as an observer. 

      Gazprom   is   to repay $3.7 billion in debts on credits in 2009, and 

Rosneft $3.1 billion by 2012, Sechin said. 

      The   Russian   deputy   prime   minister acknowledged that the largest 

Russian   producers   of   hydrocarbons   are   concerned   about the level of 

prices on    the   world   markets.   "The level of prices must guarantee the 

return of    the   resources   put   into   the development of new fields," he 

said.

      Sechin   said that a larger part of the oil companies' investment is 

being spent    on   supporting extraction. If the drop in prices leads to a 

reduction   in   extraction,   at   the next stage this will lead to cuts in 

supplies   to   the   market and, as a consequence, to a rise in prices for 

oil, he said. 

      "It   is   a   two-way   street.   Both   consumers   and   producers   must

coordinate their moves," Sechin said. –  Interfax.com