BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 22
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
International project finance announcements in the oil and gas industry decreased by 78 percent in value and 16 percent in number in 2020 compared with 2019, Trend reports with reference to UNCTAD.
Within this industry, the most drastic contraction across developing regions was reported in Asia, where the value of announced investment fell from $68 billion to $17 billion, although the number of deals increased by 20 per cent.
The value of energy infrastructure projects fell to the lowest point in eight years (-40 per cent to $27 billion). Asia was the only region reporting growth, in both number and value of projects. Two major ones were announced in Viet Nam: a $5 billion gas-fired power plant proposed by ExxonMobil (United States) and a $2.2 billion coal-fired power plant developed by Thai MNEs in the Quang Tri Economic Zone.
Telecommunication investment increased broadly because of the pandemic-induced acceleration in digital adoption; however, this increase was not reflected in project finance announcements in ICT infrastructure in developing countries. The value of those announcements fell from $57 billion in 2019 to less than $7 billion (the 2019 value was inflated by a single large megaproject).
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