ECONOMY
EBRD TO MAKE A RESOLVE GRANTING FINANCING SHAH DENIZ IN 2004
We are holding talks on paying out $200 million to finance the SOCAR share in the project. Preparation of an ecological study of the Shah Deniz project was completed in August and all documentation will be submitted to the public for discussion. When the public hearings are over this issue will be submitted for discussion by the bank's board of directors, she said.
Philips stressed that the EBRD credit will amount to $100 million and another $100 million will be attracted in the form of a syndicated credit from a number of private banks. "Preliminary talks have been held with private banks to organize a syndicated credit. These talks are at the initial stages and it is still early to speak about which banks are involved," she said. She also did not reveal the conditions of the credit, saying that this is a commercial project and therefore the conditions are not revealed.
The SOCAR share in financing the first stage of the project amounts to $320 million, or 10% of the overall cost. SOCAR has asked the EBRD for a credit of $250 million.