Pertamina to get loans from global banks

State-owned oil company PT Pertamina will soon sign a "short-term" loan agreement to borrow as much as $500 million from lenders including Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

"We are trying to expand our credit facilities and this loan is a short-term one for about $400 million to $500 million," company senior vice president for marketing and trading Ari Soemarno said in Jakarta Thursday.

"The company will reach an agreement soon," he said.

Previously, BNP Paribas SA was the only foreign bank that provided financing to Pertamina, Soemarno said. Pertamina will use the loan from the four banks to finance oil imports and other operations.

He declined to say how much interest Pertamina will pay or give the tenure of the loan.

"Outside of state banks that we use, BNP Paribas was the only foreign bank we had used before."

In May this year, Pertamina halved a planned $500 million bond sale and said it would delay it until next year as bond yields rose. (*)