Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.19
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Azerbaijan’s Southern Gas Corridor closed joint-stock company (CJSC) has already received the first tranche of the loan approved by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), Trend learned from the CJSC.
The amount of the first tranche is approximately $151 million, said the company.
The EBRD Board of Directors approved a $500 million loan for TANAP on Oct. 18, 2017. The loan is issued for a period of 18 years.
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.
Earlier, Director General of Southern Gas Corridor CJSC Afgan Isayev said the total cost of TANAP (from the start of the pipeline’s construction until the completion of the work and transportation of first gas to Turkey and Europe) has decreased by more than $0.5 billion, as compared to the figure announced last year ($8.5 billion) and amounts to slightly less than $8 billion in accordance with TANAP’s new budget approved in October this year.
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.
Currently, the shareholders of TANAP are the Southern Gas Corridor CJSC (58 percent), Botas (30 percent) and BP (12 percent).
The World Bank has approved allocation of $800 million to Azerbaijan and Turkey. Of this amount, $400 million was allocated to BOTAS, while the other $400 million was provided to the Southern Gas Corridor CJSC.
Additionally, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved allocation of $600 million for the SGC.
A guarantee of allocation of $750 million for SGC has been provided by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
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