MOSCOW, October 19 (RIA Novosti) - The oil arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom has obtained a medium-term unsecured $500 million loan from a syndicate of banks, Gazprom Neft said in a statement on Monday.

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd will act as lead manager, with BTMU (Europe), Raiffeisenbank, Nordea Bank, Unicredit Bank and Societe Generale as authorized lead banks and lenders.

Gazprom Neft quoted its deputy general director, Vadim Yakovlev, as saying that the banks' support of the unsecured loan reflected their confidence in the company based on its "stable financial performance, business efficiency and spotless reputation as a market player."

The loan will bear interest at LIBOR+5%.

Gazprom Neft is Russia's fifth largest crude producer, and is 95.68% owned by the national gas monopoly, state-controlled Gazprom. It has proven crude reserves of over 6.9 billion barrels.

In 2008, the company produced 30.8 million metric tons (225.8 million barrels) of crude oil (a decline of 5.8% on the previous year) and refined 28.4 metric tons (208 million barrels), representing an increase of 8.4% on last year's figure.