Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.31
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Piraeus Bank of Greece has been appointed as the Onshore Account Bank in Greece of the syndicated financing scheme for the construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, Trend reports citing a message from the bank.
“Piraeus Bank, through its Loan Syndications Division and its Retail Banking and Distribution Networks, is the sole Greek bank to be actively involved in the syndicated facilities scheme, affirming the bank’s prominent role in supporting strategic energy and infrastructure projects that contribute to Greece’ s developmental opportunities and economic growth,” reads the message.
Piraeus Bank’ s participation in this syndicated financing scheme represents a vote of confidence in the Bank, it’s expertise and it’s people from international financing institutions, according to the bank.
“The Account Bank, in infrastructure project financing, takes on the reporting and monitoring of all the project company’s Bank Accounts, at each single stage of the project, in accordance with the finance documentation’s provisions,” said the bank.
Piraeus Bank, founded in 1916, is the leading lender in Greece with a 30 percent market share.
TAP project, worth 4.5 billion euros, is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union (EU). The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.
Connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Greek-Turkish border, TAP will cross Northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before coming ashore in Southern Italy to connect to the Italian natural gas network.
The project is currently in its construction phase, which started in 2016.
Once built, TAP will offer a direct and cost-effective transportation route opening up the vital Southern Gas Corridor, a 3,500-kilometer long gas value chain stretching from the Caspian Sea to Europe.
TAP shareholders include BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).
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