Gazprom has agreed to borrow 2bn from Bank of China in its largest ever bilateral loan as it braces for export gas prices to fall to a 10-year low.

俄罗斯天然气工业公司(Gazprom)已就从中国银行(Bank of China)借款20亿欧元达成协议，这是该公司有史以来获得的最大一笔双边贷款。目前，该公司正在为应对天然气出口价格降至10年低点做准备。

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.

这家俄罗斯国有天然气公司在一份声明中表示，周四，该公司与中国银行伦敦分行在上海举行会议后就获取这笔五年期贷款达成协议，这是中国贷款机构迄今向俄罗斯企业发放的最大几笔贷款之一。

“For Gazprom this is the largest deal in terms of the amount of financing attracted directly from one financial institution and the first bilateral loan facility agreement with a Chinese bank,” the Russian company said.

该公司表示：“对俄罗斯天然气工业公司来说，这是从某一金融机构获得的最大一笔直接融资，也是与一家中国的银行达成的第一笔双边贷款协议。”

The loan comes nearly two years after Gazprom signed a flagship deal with CNPC to export $400bn of gas to China over 30 years.

将近两年前，俄罗斯天然气工业公司与中国石油天然气集团公司(CNPC)签署了一项重要协议，要在未来30年向中国出口价值4000亿美元的天然气。

Gazprom executives and Russian president Vladimir Putin made much of the “pivot to Asia” symbolised by the deal, which was signed soon after the first western sanctions were imposed against Russia.

俄罗斯天然气工业公司的高管们和俄总统弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)很重视这项协议对“转向亚洲”的象征意义——就在该协议签署不久前，西方对俄罗斯实施了首轮制裁。

But the gas company has since softened its rhetoric: in a presentation to investors last month it stated that Europe was Gazprom’s “key export market”.

但在那之后，这家天然气公司的措辞有所软化：上月在面向投资者的报告会上，该公司表示欧洲是其“关键出口市场”。

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 $25bn to help it build a new pipeline, the Power of Siberia. But the deal never materialised, with people close to the negotiations saying that Beijing had pushed for interest rates that were higher than Gazprom was prepared to accept.

在与中国石油天然气集团签署协议时，这家俄罗斯公司曾表示希望得到价值250亿美元的一揽子融资，形式可以是天然气供应的预付款，也可以是贷款，以帮其建设一条名为“西伯利亚力量”(Power of Siberia)的新管道。但双方一直未就此达成协议，据了解谈判情况的人士透露，北京方面要求的利率高于俄罗斯天然气工业公司打算接受的水平。