Baku, Azerbaijan, July 6
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The final exact amount of the loan to be allocated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will depend on factors such as the results of syndication, the bank told Trend.
“Please note that the EBRD approved a loan of up to 500 million euros for TAP. This means that the final exact amount of the EBRD loan will depend on factors such as the results of syndication,” said the bank.
“It is indeed envisaged that this would be a syndicated facility; syndication was launched in the beginning of June with commitments expected in the coming months. The B loan amount will only be known once the allocation of commitments amongst the facilities has been agreed.”
Earlier, Bruno Balvanera, EBRD Director for the Caucasus, Moldova and Belarus, said that the bank plans to allocate loans worth up to 1.2 billion euros for TAP in 2018.
“The amount expected will be in the range of up to 500 million euros in a direct loan and up to 700 million euros in a syndicated loan, subject to final internal approvals. It’s expected to be approved towards the middle of the year,” he said.
The EBRD Board of Directors approved a loan of up to 500 million euros for TAP project on July 4.
TAP project, worth 4.5 billion euros, is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union (EU), and has already attracted 1.5 billion euros from the European Investment Bank (EIB), which approved the loan in early February 2018.
Connecting with the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) at the Greek-Turkish border, TAP will cross Northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before coming ashore in Southern Italy to connect to the Italian natural gas network.
The project is currently in its construction phase, which started in 2016.
Once built, TAP will offer a direct and cost-effective transportation route opening up the vital Southern Gas Corridor, a 3,500-kilometer long gas value chain stretching from the Caspian Sea to Europe.
TAP shareholders include BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).
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