Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.21
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The decision of the European Investment Bank (EIB) to postpone the discussions on loan allocation for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project didn’t affect the financial estimates of Azerbaijan’s Southern Gas Corridor closed joint-stock company (CJSC), Trend learned from the company.
“As you know, the Southern Gas Corridor CJSC has 20-percent share in TAP project. In its financial calculations, the company proceeds from the assumption that it will finance its share in the TAP project by itself by attracting the necessary funds. Accordingly, the decision of the European Investment Bank did not affect our own forecasts and financial calculations,” said the company.
The discussions of EIB on issuing 1.5 billion euros loan for TAP project were postponed to February 2018 due to the lack of time to hold proper discussions on Dec.12, a source in the Bank earlier told Trend.
“The project was presented to the board at its last meeting of the year with a very busy agenda, and the board decided that, given the unexpected length of discussion about other agenda points, there wasn't enough time left for a proper discussion of this important project. Nothing more - nothing sinister and no change in attitude or approach by the Bank,” said the source.
Aside from EIB, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is also considering allocation of 500 million euros loan for TAP.
The project has passed concept review and is now pending structure review. The beneficiary of the loan is TAP AG consortium.
TAP project, worth 4.5 billion euros, is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union. The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.
The pipeline will connect to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy’s south.
TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers).
TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).
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