Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.23
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
European Investment Bank (EIB) and the ICGB AD, the project company for construction of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) are in the process of talks on signing the loan agreement, EIB told Trend.
It is a Memorandum of Understanding between the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) regarding the realization of the IGB project. The memorandum concerns securing preferential loan financing in connection with using the state guarantee of Bulgaria (expected 110 million euros) and is a key step in IGB’s realization. The preferential loan is one of the main sources of funding for the project.
“The negotiation process is ongoing, we can’t make forecasts about signature dates,” said the bank.
Earlier, Teodora Georgieva, executive director of the ICGB project company, told Trend that there are some pending shareholding discussions which are close to finalization like signing of EIB and Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) lending agreement.
“But we are on the right path to close them in September and activate construction works,” added Georgieva.
IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to TAP via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.
The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas.
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