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BAKU, May 25 (Reuters) - The European Bank forReconstruction and Development (EBRD) has started talks withAzerbaijan and Turkey on its possible financing of theTrans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP), an official at the banksaid on Wednesday.
TANAP, launched in Turkey in March 2015, aims to carry 16billion cubic metres of gas a year by mid-2018 from Azerbaijan'sShah Deniz II project in the Caspian Sea, one of the world'slargest gas fields developed by a BP-led consortium.
The 1,850-km (1,150-mile), $10 billion pipeline will stretchfrom Turkey's border with Georgia to Greece and is key toTurkey's ambition to cut its own dependence on Russian gas.
Initially, Turkey will buy the first 6 bcm per year of gasfrom TANAP. A further 10 bcm will be delivered to Europe once itis connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) by 2020. By2023, TANAP's capacity will rise to 23 bcm per year and then to31 bcm by 2026, according to project executives.
"We have started talks with the Azeri government on theissue of financing, but it's too early to talk about figures,"Svitlana Pyrkalo, the EBRD's principal adviser, told reporters.
She said that issue was a key topic in talks between Azeriofficials and EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti in the Azericapital, Baku.
The EBRD, set up in 1991 to invest in the former Sovieteconomies of eastern Europe, said earlier this year that it alsowas considering allocating up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.7billion) for the TAP project in a record loan.
The bank is considering issuing up to 500 million euros fromits own funds and trying to arrange with other banks up to 1billion euros in a syndicated loan.($1 = 0.8969 euros) (Writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Dale Hudson)
