Baku, Azerbaijan, August 2
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The EIB (European Investment Bank) Group has approved 507 million euros of financing for projects in Turkey so far this year, but this does not mean that it will not finance anything for the rest of the year, EIB spokesperson told Trend.
“We can’t give a forecast now, but it is likely that our financing in Turkey will be lower in 2017 than it has been in 2016,” he added.
The EIB Group is very worried about the current political developments in Turkey, said the spokesperson, adding that they threaten the further economic development of the country.
“This is why the EU bank is very diligent when appraising new projects in Turkey. The EIB is well known for its high standards concerning technical, economic and financial as well as in social, ecological and human rights aspects. It will only support projects that are fully compliant with national and EU law. This is the reason why the appraisal of projects in Turkey currently takes longer than in former years,” he explained.
Regarding the possibility of financing of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project by EIB, the spokesperson noted that the organization is currently appraising TANAP.
“Before the appraisal, the bank never comments on details of projects. EIB financing cannot be agreed until the Bank’s due diligence has been completed. The EIB will carefully review all the issues raised as part of its usual due diligence procedures,” he added.
Earlier, it was reported that EIB will allocate one billion euros to finance the construction of the TANAP.
The funds will be used to finance Turkish BOTAS company's share in TANAP.
TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline's construction the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.
The length of TANAP is 1,850 kilometers with an initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters of gas. Around six billion cubic meters of this gas is meant to be delivered to Turkey, with the remaining volume to be supplied to Europe.
TANAP shareholders are Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR (58 percent), BOTAS (30 percent) and BP (12 percent).
The total cost of the project is $8.5 billion.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn