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“The proceeds from the issuance of new bonds (€300 million, approximately $330mn) will mainly be used to repurchase eurobonds issued in 2016 ($250mn), with the remaining amount (approximately $70-80mn) to be used for partial financing of construction of Gardabani 3. Most of the investment in Garbadani 3 will be financed from own funds, though. The new bond is issued in euros because of the significantly lower interest,” GOGC was quoted as saying.
GOGC completed construction of the second block of the Gardabani plant in late 2019. The 230-megawatt facility has already been put into test mode and has supplied electricity to the state power system.
According to the economy ministry, the company made "significant profits" in 2019. In the first six months of last year, GOGC reported Georgian lari (GEL) 32.2mn (slightly more than $10mn) in net profit.
9.0​ Industry & Sectors 9.1 ​Sector news
9.1.1 ​Oil & gas sector news
No Azerbaijani gas will flow to the European Union market until at least October 2020. ​And a gas supply company in Azerbaijan may end up facing a big bill because of the delays. That much became clear on November 1 after the head of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) consortium gave an interview to Reuters.
Gas supplies from Azerbaijan’s giant Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea are to reach Europe via the $40bn Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), supported by the European Union as a major step in diversifying energy supplies away from over-dependence on existing sources such as Russia and Norway. The SGC links the 692-km South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) running from Azerbaijan to Georgia,​ ​TANAP, which runs 1,850 km from the Georgian border through Turkey to the Greek border​ ​and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), an 878 km pipeline which traverses Greece and Albania and an Adriatic seabed route to southern Italy.
“It is not TANAP, but the other parties that have not yet reached project completion,” TANAP chief Saltuk Duzyol said in his interview, cautioning: “Commercially, according to our gas transportation agreements, we are entitled to issue invoices starting from July 1 next year.”
Under the Shah Deniz II gas sales deal, Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company (AGSC)—formed by Azerbaijan’s national energy company Socar and its Shah Deniz project partners and which manages gas sales from the Shah Deniz field—has to pay fines to gas buyers if they do not get supplies by July 1, 2020.
Shah Deniz I has been pumping gas since 2006, selling it to Georgia and Turkey. Shah Deniz II is expected to attain 16bn cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year by 2021. Some 10 bcm of that is earmarked for Europe and 6 bcm for Turkey.
“Commercial deliveries of Azeri gas to Europe can begin no earlier than October 2020, since the construction work on the TAP pipeline can be completed by this date,” Duzyol added.
The TAP project, which includes Britain’s BP, Italy’s Snam and Spain’s Enagas, has faced construction delays caused by environmental hitches.
42​ GEORGIA Country Report​ February 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com