Baku, Azerbaijan, March 31
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
The interests of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Southern Gas Corridor company coincide in attracting a loan to expand Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 project, a source on the country's oil and gas market told Trend March 31.
Subsequently, Azerbaijan appealed namely to the ADB to attract a loan worth $450 million, according to the source.
"Attracting the loan corresponds both to the ADB strategy on Azerbaijan for 2014-2018 and the policy for attracting funds for the Southern Gas Corridor project," said the source. "Azerbaijan's financial advisor for the project - Lazard Europe - has also endorsed it."
The loan terms will be determined later, but if the bank makes a positive decision, the loan will be issued under the state guarantees, according to the source.
The contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed on June 4, 1996. The field's reserve is estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
The shareholders in the contract are: BP, operator (28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), NIOC (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).
Shah Deniz- 2 project envisages drilling 26 subsea wells, construction of two platforms, underwater pipelines for gas and condensate, expansion of the oil and gas terminal in Sangachal township, construction of two gas compressor stations and connection of this infrastructure to the South Caucasus gas pipeline.
As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.
Edited by SI
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