Bulgartransgaz borrows €455m to finance key projects
Bulgarian state-owned gas transmission system operator Bulgartransgaz has borrowed a total of €455 million ($539 million) under eight loan agreements, and is expected to take out loans from another two banks by the end of September.
The company signed loan agreements with ING Bank, Citibank Europe, Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria, UniCredit Bulbank, the International Bank for Economic Co-operation, Eurobank Bulgaria, DSK Bank, and a consortium comprising state-owned Bulgarian Development Bank and the International Investment Bank. Bulgartransgaz is also in talks with VTB Bank Europe and United Bulgarian Bank.
In July, Bulgartransgaz said that it received ten offers for loans totalling €542 million. The offered interest rates vary for each of the six years of the loans, with the lowest being 1.35% and the highest 3.50%, the company said at the time.
Bulgartransgaz intends to use the funds to finance key projects such as the construction of the Bulgarian section of TurkStream pipeline extension to Europe, the interconnection Bulgaria-Serbia, and the expansion of the capacity of Chiren underground gas storage facility.
Last year, Bulgartransgaz signed a €1.1 billion contract with a consortium of Saudi-based Arkad Engineering and Construction Company and its Italy-based joint venture company Arkad ABB of the Bulgarian section of TurkStream transit gas pipeline that will carry gas from Bulgaria's border with Turkey to the border with Serbia.
The offshore section of Gazprom's TurkStream pipeline stretching 930km across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey consists of two parallel strings with an annual throughput capacity of 15.75 billion cubic metres each. One string is intended for consumers in Turkey, while the second will carry gas to customers in Europe through Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.
