IFC Approves Caspian Oil and BTC Investment Projects

The Board of the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, approved on November 4 investment projects in the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) Phase 1 oil field and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline.

According to the IFC the ACG Phase 1 oil field involves the development of an oil field off Azerbaijan in the Caspian Sea. IFC’s investment in ACG Phase 1 consists of loans of up to USD 30 million for its own account and further loans of up to USD 30 million to be commercially syndicated. The total project cost of ACG Phase 1 is approximately USD 3.2 billion.

The BTC pipeline is a dedicated crude oil pipeline system, 1760 kilometers long, with a capacity of 1 million barrels per day.  The pipeline will extend from the ACG field through Azerbaijan and Georgia, to a terminal at Ceyhan on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. IFC’s investment in the BTC pipeline consists of a loan up to USD 125 million for its own account and a loan of up to USD 125 million in commercial syndication. The total project cost of BTC is approximately USD 3.6 billion.