Russia-China oil loan talks suspended on differences

MOSCOW, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Russia and China have suspended talks over $25 billion in loans to Russian oil companies due to disagreements over interest rates and state guarantees, two Russian sources close to talks told Reuters on Wednesday.

China was discussing lending Russian state oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM) and pipeline monopoly Transneft (TRNF_p.RTS) up to $25 billion in export-backed loans as part of a broader oil supply deal.

"The working groups have suspended talks after the Chinese side raised quite absurd lending conditions... One could have a feeling that there had been no previous round of talks in Moscow," one source, who asked not to be named because he is not allowed to talk about the issue publicly, told Reuters.

He said the Chinese side had asked at the latest round of talks in Beijing to peg interest rates on the loans to LIBOR, after having agreed previously to lend the money at 7 percent a year. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Robin Paxton)