Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 22 / Trend Capital /

"Nabucco has started detailed discussions with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and we will soon enter into a dialogue also with the International Finance Cooperation (IFC)", said Reinhard Mitschek Managing Director of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International.

These talks aim at determining the key financing parameters and other important project decisions. The most important aim of the current talks is to keep lenders informed about the ongoing environmental and social impact assessment for the project and to ensure that these works are performed in line with lenders' requirements, Mitschek said.

Nabucco, with an overall investment of 7.9 billion Euros, will need a diversified set of lenders, among them the international financing institutions, export credit agencies and commercial banks. In addition, equity capital shall be provided by the six consortium partners.

"We expect that, next year the scope of involvement of individual lenders will become clear", said Mitschek.

Mitschek believes the early engagement of lenders is an important key success factor for the project realization.

"To this purpose, Nabucco contacted a number of Export Credit Agencies in Europe, the US and Japan which are expected to support the project by means of loan covers and guarantees," he added.

Nabucco will make a significant contribution to natural gas supply securtity for Turkey, South-Eastern Europe and Central - and Western-Europe. The pipeline will provide access to new sources of gas for European customers and encourage competition within the international gas markets. The Nabucco gas pipeline will run for over 3,300 km from Turkey via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary to Vienna, close to the Baumgarten gas hub. Currently, the pipeline shareholders include OMV Gas&Power, MOL, Transgaz, Bulgarian Energy Holding, BOTAS and RWE. The planned capacity for the final development stage is 31 billion cubic meters. The total capital investments based on the project assessments of summer 2008 was EUR 7.9 billion.