Rosneft delays rouble bonds due to market

MOSCOW, March 21 (Reuters) - Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) has postponed its rouble bond issues until market conditions improve, a company official said on Friday.

Rosneft, one of Russia's most leveraged companies with debt of over $27 billion as of the end of last year, had planned to issue up to 45 billion roubles ($1.90 billion) in three issues, starting from the fourth quarter of 2007.

The company said on Monday it had completed repayment of the second, $5.2 billion tranche of the short-term loan it raised last year from Western banks to finance acquisitions. (Reporting by Dmitry Sergeev, writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Simon Shuster)