UPDATE 1-PDVSA fails to get Brazil refinery loan-Costa

* Loan key for Venezuela's PDVSA to buy refinery stake

* PDVSA has not said if it will continue with project

* Long-delayed project has strained Brazil-Venezuela ties

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA failed to secure a $10 billion loan from Brazil's state-development bank needed to pay for its 40 percent stake in a Brazilian oil refinery, its partner, Petrobras, said on Tuesday.

The loan was declined after PDVSA failed to give the bank, known as BNDES, sufficient guarantees it can repay the loan. PDVSA has informed Petrobras , Brazil's state-led oil company, of the problem but has not said if it plans to continue in the project, Paulo Roberto Costa, Petrobras' refining chief told reporters in Rio de Janeiro.

The loan rejection is the latest chapter in a six-year story of the $14 billion Abreu e Lima Refinery near Recife on Brazil's northeast coast. The 230,000 barrel a day heavy-oil complex, which began as a solidarity gesture between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and former Brazilian president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, now strains Brazilian-Venezuelan relations.

"We got the letter today. We are still examining its content to see what course to take," Costa told reporters. "(PDVSA) said it was having problems with the BNDES but I still don't know the content of the rest of it."

Petrobras which had planned on taking a 60 percent stake in the project, has also said it will complete the refinery and operate it with or without PDVSA. It is one of five refineries Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras is building in Brazil.

The refinery, years behind schedule and costing more than triple its original price tag, has yet to receive a penny from PDVSA despite several grand groundbreaking ceremonies.

The refinery is about half completed and is expected to process crude from the Marlim field in Brazil's Campos Basin and from the Carabobo field in Venezuela.

GASOLINE IMPORTS

Costa said gasoline imports in early 2012 had declined from a peak in December.

Costa said Petrobras was importing a record 70,000 barrels of gasoline a day in December due to increased demand and limited cane ethanol output on the local market.

Petrobras' new found need to import gasoline has not been good for its balance sheet but has helped to soak up excess supply in the U.S. Gulf market.