The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to be a
“senior participant” in the financing of the Nabucco gas pipeline, part of the
London-based bank’s investments to boost energy security in Europe.
EBRD may
lead a group of banks to finance as much as 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in
the pipeline that will bring gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe, Riccardo
Puliti, EBRD’s energy business group director, said in an interview in Budapest
yesterday.
The size of the bank’s involvement will depend on market conditions,
he said. EBRD yesterday announced a 200-million-euro loan to MOL Nyrt to fund a
gas storage facility in Hungary. Natural gas imports from Russia to Europe
dropped in January after a price dispute between Russia and Ukraine, a key
transit country, interrupted deliveries.
(from "KATHIMERINI" newspaper, 19/06/2009)