Bulgaria’s Minister of Finance authorized to ink IGB loan agreement with EIB
Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.29
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Bulgaria’s cabinet has authorized this country’s Minister of Finance to sign with the European Investment Bank a government guaranteed loan agreement for construction of interconnector between the national gas distribution systems of Bulgaria and Greece (IGB), Trend reports citing Bulgarian media.
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 estimated investment in the project amounts to 240 million euros excluding VAT, reads the report.
“The gas interconnector will play a strategic role in achieving real diversification of natural gas supply sources for Bulgaria and Southeast Europe. Being part of the development of the Southern Gas Corridor, it will provide Bulgaria and its neighboring countries with access to alternative gas supplies from the Caspian Region, as well as to existing and future liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals,” said the report.
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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