LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Russia's third-largest oil producer TNK-BP is in talks with its core relationship banks about securing a loan, a banking source close to the deal said on Wednesday.
The global credit crisis has closed the syndicated loan market to Russian companies until at least 2009, and firms seeking financing are being forced to rely on relationship banks to put club loans together, bankers said.
TNK's loan will therefore be structured as a pre-export club loan, and the deal will be secured on export deliveries, the banker close to the deal added.
The amount of the loan is not clear at this stage and talks will establish how much the firm can raise, given difficult and illiquid loan market conditions, the banker said.
"The company will take whatever it can get," he added.
TNK-BP was in the process of agreeing a $600 million syndicated loan in June, when a dispute blew up between its owners BP and a group of Russia-linked billionaires who are equal owners of the company.
The loan stalled as the shareholder dispute escalated amid talk of a possible takeover by a Russian state-backed company, banking sources close to the loan told Reuters Loan Pricing Corp at the time.
BP and the billionaires sealed a peace deal in September after months of fierce dispute over the company's strategy and control.

(Reporting by Christopher Mangham, editing by Will Waterman) Keywords: TNK/LOANS (christopher.mangham@reuters.com; +44 20 7542 3582; Reuters Messaging: christopher.mangham.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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