The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union’s financing institution, is advancing a 90 million euro ($81 million) loan to the Turkish National Oil and Gas Company for the establishment of Turkey’s first major gas storage facility.
This is the first EIB operation under the new Special Action Program, which makes available financing for up to 450 million euro during 2001-2004, in favor of a key Investment in Turkey's Energy Sector.
The project, which will provide about 1.9 Giga cubic meters of working gas capacity, concerns the conversion of two depleted gas fields, one onshore and one offshore, located in the Thrace region near the city of Silivri, some 60 kilometers west of Istanbul, into an integrated gas storage facility.
There are currently no gas storage facilities in Turkey, other than storage tanks of limited capacity located at a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal across the Bosphorus from Istanbul.
The main purpose of gas storage is to match seasonal demand fluctuations—winter demand for gas is more than twice the summer level in Turkey—with supply given an optimal, usually constant level of imports and production.
Winter demand is currently met by interrupting supply to large industries and power plants that can use alternative, but more expensive and more polluting fuels. This project will therefore reduce national fuel costs and overall CO2, SO2 and NOx emissions, contribute to the rational use of gas infrastructure and provide a degree of supply security in case gas imports are temporarily disrupted.
The EIB finances capital investment furthering EU integration, in particular regional development, trans-European networks in transport, telecoms and energy, industrial competitiveness and integration, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), environmental protection, energy security and health and education projects. It also operates outside the EU within the framework of the EU's co-operation external policy. Owned by the EU Member States, the EIB raises its funds on capital markets.
In 2001, loans totaled 36.8 billion euro, of which 31.2 billion euro to EU Member States. Lending in the Mediterranean Partner Countries rose to a record figure of 1.5 billion euro. Since 1995, the EIB has contributed about one billion euro to projects in the Turkish economy. Infrastructure projects financed in Turkey include: the wastewater and effluent treatment systems in Adana, Diyarbakir, Izmit, Mersin and Tarsus; the desulphurization equipment at the Yeniky power station on the Aegean coast and the construction of more environment-friendly power and heating plants. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
