Azerbaijan Secures ADB Loan for Shah Deniz

Azerbaijan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) May 7 signed a guarantee agreement and a $500mn loan agreement for the Shah Deniz-2 gas and condensate development project.

The agreement was signed by Azerbaijan's finance minister Samir Sharifov and ADB president Takehiko Nakao on the margins of the annual meeting of the bank's board of governors meeting in Yokohama, Azerbaijan's state-owned Southern Gas Corridor closed joint-stock company told NGW.

It's planned that 10bn m³/yr of Azerbaijani gas from Shah Deniz-2 will be exported through Georgia and Turkey to Europe starting 2020. SGC includes expansion of the South Caucasus gas pipeline (SCPX) and the construction of the Trans-Anatolian (Tanap) and Trans-Adriatic (TAP) pipelines.

ADB's Nakao said that Azerbaijan is a valuable partner and an important member of the bank, and expressed interest in further expanding of cooperation in the future. 

Sharifov, speaking at the bank governors' meeting in Yokohama, also spoke about the economic structural reforms being carried out in Azerbaijan. 

Source: Tanap

The Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project aims to improve Europe's energy security by diversifying its sources of gas supplies and is a priority project for the EU. It envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey. In addition to ADB, the World Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and other multilateral financial institutions will also participate in the project financing.

Gas produced initially from Shah Deniz stage 2 will be considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects, but other fields can be connected to this project at a later stage.

Azerbaijan Desk