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WB, BOTAS ink loan agreement on TANAP

8 February 2017 17:21 (UTC+04:00)
WB, BOTAS ink loan agreement on TANAP

By Nigar Abbasova

The World Bank and the Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS) signed a loan agreement within the construction of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project on February 8, BloombergHT reported.

Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak, addressing a signing ceremony, said that TANAP aims to provide the regional and global energy security.

“For now, the implementation of the project is completed by almost 65 percent. Next year, Turkey will be able to receive gas passing through the pipeline,” he said.

TANAP jointly implemented by Baku and Ankara is a core pipe of the Southern Gas Corridor, envisaging the transportation of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to Europe. Turkey will get gas in 2018 and after completing the construction of Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.

The minister stressed that financing of the project by the WB is very important or Turkey. “This year, we will get an additional sum of $3 billion from different financing organizations to strengthen the energy market of the country,” he said.

The Bank earlier approved a $400 million loan for Turkey and a $400 million loan for Azerbaijan for the implementation of the TANAP project, which will transport natural gas from the Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan to and across Turkey.

The WB and Azerbaijan signed a loan agreement on the project on January 16.

With its vital role in the overall objective of diversifying energy supplies to Europe, Turkey spares no effort to realize TANAP, which is a backbone pipe forming the ambitious Southern Gas Corridor project.

The length of the project is 1,800 kilometers with the initial capacity standing at 16 billion cubic meters. The construction work within the project is currently on track.

The project is also expected to get financing from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), European Investment Bank (EIB), and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

TANAP shareholders are Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR (58 percent), BOTAS (30 percent) and BP (12 percent).

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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