Gazprom is having cash flow problems, which is why it turned to the Bank of China for a 2 billion euro loan this week. The FT reports:
The Russian state-controlled gas group agreed the five-year loan — one of the largest ever from a Chinese lender to a Russian company — with Bank of China’s London branch at a meeting in Shanghai on Thursday, it said in a statement. […]When the deal with CNPC was signed, the Russian group said it hoped to receive a financing package — either in the form of prepayments for gas supplies or loans — worth …read more
Source: The American Interest