Azerbaijan, Baku, July 20 / Trend A. Badalova /
Nabucco West project can reach its financial close very soon, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH spokesman, Christian Dolezal told Trend in the interview in Baku.
"The financial institutions are ready to fund the project. The money is available," Dolezal said.
He said that the due diligence by European Investment Bank (EIB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and International Financial Corporation (IFC) is ongoing.
According to Dolezal, a mandate letter signed between EBRD, EIB, IFC and NIC in September, 2010 was an important step in financial side of the project.
The signing marked the start of the appraisal process for the Nabucco project, a step required for a potential financing package of up to 4 billion (bln) euros, where up to 2 bln euros is expected from the EIB, up to 1.2 bln euros - from the EBRD and up to around 800 mln euros - from IFC.
Dolezal said that Nabucco West project's debt to equity ratio is still set to be 70:30 - that means Nabucco's shareholders will invest 30 percent of total cost of the project, and the rest 70 percent will be paid owing to loans.
Dolezal did not disclose the Nabucco West cost, however he said that its Capex figures will be less than the figures of the project's classic case (7.9 bln euros).
Nabucco West is a short-cut version of Nabucco project, which envisages construction of the pipeline from Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria. Gas to be produced within the second phase of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field development is considered as the main source for the project.
The project's current shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV, German RWE and Hungary's FGSZ.