Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 14
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
A purchase of a stake in the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) by SOCAR Turkey Enerji is a systemic solution to issues of financing the project, the head of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) Rovnag Abdullayev told reporters Sept.14.
He said that this process is a kind of transfer of assets within the SOCAR company, which will make it possible to solve the problems with the financing of the project.
"Out of our 58 percent stake in TANAP, we will transfer 7 percent to SOCAR Turkey Enerji, which will also participate in the financing of the project," said Abdullayev. "This is a specific transfer of assets. Also, this will increase the assets of SOCAR Turkey Enerji in Turkey."
He went on to add that the main part of the funds received by SOCAR from the sale of 13 percent share of SOCAR Turkey Enerji to the US bank Goldman Sachs for $1.3 billion, will go to repaying the loans taken from banks and financing new projects.
TANAP project envisages transportation of gas of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field from the Georgian-Turkish border to the western borders of Turkey.
TANAP's initial capacity is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Around six billion cubic meters of this gas will be delivered to Turkey and the rest of the volume to Europe. Turkey will obtain gas in 2018, while Europe will get it in early 2020 after the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is constructed.
BP and the TANAP consortium signed a shareholder agreement March 13, according to which BP will become one of the shareholders of TANAP. The agreement is one of the main documents for BP's ownership of a stake in the TANAP project.
Following the completion of a legal implementation procedure, TANAP's shareholders list will be as follows: SOCAR - 58 percent, Botas - 30 percent and BP - 12 percent.
Edited by CN
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