Oil firm seeks to lend $1.5bn

State-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was in talks with a group of overseas and local lenders led by Standard Chartered for a $1.5 billion (R12.8bn) loan to pay fuel traders, Abuja-based spokeswoman Tumini Green said yesterday. The company planned to use 15 000 barrels of daily crude output as collateral, she said. The loan would run for five years. – Bloomberg