EIB Signs Off $1.15bn Loan for Tanap
The European Investment Bank has confirmed its board's approval March 15 of an €932mn ($1.15bn) loan for the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (Tanap) to bring natural gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz 2 gas field to Europe.
Financing has already been confirmed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank and Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB), the EIB added.
The project is key component of the Southern Gas Corridor, an initiative identified by the Council of Ministers, the European Commission, and the European Parliament as strategically important for the EU’s energy policy, said EIB, noting that the loan was one of several approved March 15 by its board for 34 projects in the EU, Africa, Asia and Latin America for a total of €8bn .
Environmental group CEE Bankwatch pointed to a study it released in January that indicated the Southern Gas Corridor's full-cycle climate footprint could be as bad as that of coal, and said poor human rights in Turkey and Azerbaijan meant Tanap should not receive public funding
The Southern Gas Corridor, of which Tanap is part, is the biggest energy project the EU is pursuing, with the intention of annually delivering 6bn m3/yr of Azerbaijani gas to Turkey and additional 10bn m3/yr to the EU. Scheduled to be completed later this year, the 1,800 km long Tanap, which has the potential to be doubled to over 30bn m³/yr if gas can be found for it, would traverse Turkey from the border with Georgia to the border with Greece.