Morgan Lewis & Bockius and Baker & McKenzie have taken lead roles on the $1.1bn (£713m) financing of Kazakhstan state oil and gas company, KazMunaiGas, by the Export-Import Bank of China.

The Kazakh company will use the Chinese loan for an upgrade of an oil refinery to produce cleaner fuels.

Banking and finance partner Bruce Johnston – who recently joined Morgan Lewis from the London office of collapsed firm Dewey & LeBoeuf – led the firm's team advising KazMunaiGas, alongside a team of business and finance partners including Lucas Chang in Beijing, Almaty managing partner Aset Shyngyssov and Tokyo-based Lisa Yano.

Johnston, who has a longstanding relationship with KazMunaiGas, joined Morgan Lewis from Dewey in early May alongside Shyngyssov and five other Morgan Lewis partners.

Meanwhile, Bakers advised Export-Import Bank with a team led by Beijing special counsel Simon Leung.

Johnston said: "This is a huge financing by China, and very significant for Kazakhstan – as evidenced by the Kazakh President and Chinese Prime Minister signing the deal. China is one of the biggest investors in the former Soviet Union state."