Kuwait’s Kufpec taps banks for loan of over $1b, sources suggest

Dubai: 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 mater 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.