Botas in talks with EIB, WB to draw loan on TANAP
By Aynur Karimova
Turkish Botas State Pipeline Company is negotiating with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank (WB) to draw loans worth $2 billion to finance its stake in the Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP), Bloomberg agency reported on November 12.
The sources dealing with the situation said the negotiations are underway with the Turkish Energy Ministry.
"Some $1.07 billion is expected to be allocated by EIB, while $1 billion – by WB,” the statement said. “The funds will be used to finance the share of the Turkish company in TANAP. Both loans will be long-term, but the conditions of their drawing are under discussion. Perhaps, the loans will be delivered under the state guarantees."
TANAP envisages the transportation of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field on the Georgian-Turkish border to the western borders of Turkey. TANAP’s initial capacity is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Some six billion cubic meters of this gas will be delivered to Turkey and the rest will go to Europe.
BP and the TANAP consortium signed on March 13 a shareholder agreement, according to which, BP will become one of the shareholders of TANAP. The agreement is one of the main documents proclaiming BP’s ownership of a stake in the TANAP project.
Following the completion of a legal implementation procedure, TANAP’s shareholder list will be as follows: SOCAR, 58 percent; Botas, 30 percent; and BP, 12 percent.
The contractors for constructing TANAP’s 1,337-kilometer-long onshore section are Fernas Insaat A.S., Sicim-Yuksel-AKKORD Adi Ortakligi, and TEKFEN Insaat ve Tesisat A.S. These companies will build the section running up to the city of Eskisehir.
The capital costs of the TANAP project are expected to stand at $9.5 billion.
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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