The loan and credit guarantee was issued to the Russian company to develop Kandym deposit in Uzbekistan, the ADB said.

The ADB is planning to enter to consortium of project creditors through issuing loan for US$100 million and credit guarantee for US$200 million.

The loan will be issued from ordinary resources of the ADB for eight years, including 1.5 years of grace period. The credit guarantee was issued for seven years.

Earlier, Lukoil announced it intends to raise US$500 million to finance on a limited recourse basis the development of Khausak-Shady-Kandym project in Uzbekistan.

The lenders consortium is expected to include international financial organizations, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and commercial banks: BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA, Korea Development Bank, Crédit Agricole CIB and UniCredit Group.

The agreement on the Khauzak-Shady-Kandym project was signed on 16 June 2004. The Khauzak gas field was commissioned in November, 2007 as per schedule. LUKOIL's share of proved reserves is 569 million BOE. The projected production rate is 12 billion cubic meters of gas per year.