KazMunaiGas, Kazakhstan's state-owned oil and gas company, has secured a $1.13 billion loan from China's Export-Import Bank last week. Law firms Baker & McKenzie and Morgan Lewis & Bockius represented the lender and the borrower respectively in the transaction.

The loan, which is repayable over 13.5 years, will finance a large part of a $1.68 billion project to complete an upgrade that will enable KazMunaiGas’ Atyrau oil refinery - Kazakhstan's oldest refinery - to produce cleaner fuels.

The revamp project will be carried out by a consortium headed by China’s Sinopec Engineering, and will include Japan's Marubeni Corp and Kazakh firm KazStroiServis. When the facility gets completed in 2015, it will be capable of processing 2.4 million tonnes of fuel oil and vacuum gas oil per year.

“The new complex will allow us to increase production of high-octane gasoline, jet fuel and diesel that will meet Euro-5 emissions standards," said Talgat Baitaziyev, general director of the Atyrau refinery, in a statement, Reuters reported.

The Morgan Lewis team was led by London-based partner Bruce Johnston, Beijing-based partner Lucas Chang and counsel Min Duan, Tokyo-based partner Lisa Yano, and Almaty-based partner Aset Shyngyssov. ALB

Liu Zhen is North Asia senior journalist at ALB. Follow her on Twitter: @ALB_Magazine.

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