Azerbaijan is in talks with foreign lenders to borrow about $7 billion to finance its share of projects to pipe natural gas to Europe, said Zaur Qahramanov, deputy head of investments at the state energy company SOCAR.
The state-owned Southern Gas Corridor Company, in which SOCAR holds 49 percent and the Ministry of Economy 51 percent, is talking with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Financial Corporation and others on terms of financing, Qahramanov said.
"We will borrow if the interest rates are low,” he said.
The projects include the BP-led Shah Deniz Phase Two natural-gas development, the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline Expansion, the Trans-Anatolia natural gas pipeline (Tanap) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
Azerbaijan’s share of the projects is $14 billion, half of which will be provided by the government, the SOCAR official said.
Azerbaijan will export 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year to the European Union from 2020 under contracts signed in December 2013. Turkey will receive 6 billion cubic meters of gas a year from 2018 in addition to around 6 billion cubic meters of gas it buys now.
The projects are estimated to cost $45 billion.
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