Urals Energy has cleared the remaining portion of a $500 million debt to state-run Sberbank by divesting a 35.3 percent stake in an East Siberian oil field, the company said on Thursday.
The midsized oil firm will seek the resumption of trading in its shares on London's Alternative Investment Market by the end of the year after transferring the stake in the Tass Yuriakh deposit to Sberbank, the country's biggest lender.
Urals Energy had previously agreed to divest its stakes in Tass Yuriakh and another key asset, Dulisma, in order to fulfill its obligations to Sberbank on loans totaling $630 million. The assets, secured in 2007, were used as collateral on the loans.
"With all of the Sberbank debt now cleared, Urals can return to focus on delivering shareholder growth via our two producing oil assets," said Alexei Maximov, who was this month appointed chief executive of Urals.
Urals Energy produces oil at its Arcticneft unit on an island in the Barents Sea, and at its Petrosakh unit on the Pacific island of Sakhalin, the company says on its web site.
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