The engineering design of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline of 1740km with a capacity of 50 million tons of hydrocarbons per year is estimated to cost US$ 2,9 - 3 billion to build. But these figures are not final as, in the opinion of experts, the cost of the Main Export Pipeline (MEP) could reach far over 3 billion dollars. According to the suggested scheme of financing, 30% will stem from own resources of the participants of the consortium entering a sponsor\'s group, and 70% will be financed internationally. The IFC and the European Bank of Reconstruction

and Development (EBRD) have declared granting a total of 600 million dollars. However the direct participation of the IFC and the EBRD will be of 150 million dollars. The remainder will be financed by means of syndicated crediting in which they are going to involve foreign investment banks.

At the same time, according to the head of Azerbaijani National Bank Avaz Alekperov, it is not excluded to use a part of currency reserves in case of need to finance the construction of BTC. However these investments should be of a temporary character and with a condition of return of the means. In interview to TREND news agency, the first deputy director of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) Ilham Aliyev declared that the delay the international financial institutions (IFI) in opening credit lines for the engineering design of BTC will not

affect the terms of its realization. SOCAR has already saved up means that should be allocated for construction of the export pipeline. There is already over US$ 40 million in a SOCAR special bank account, which will be allocated for financing Azerbaijan’s share. This will according to Ilham Aliyev be enough for the period until donor institutes actually begin financing. The budget of the State oil fund for last year included payments on BTC construction in the amount of US$ 50 million, and this year, 115 million dollars are being provided for this purpose.

The Baku representative of the IFC stated that “We would wish that the best experience available in this field be used in Azerbaijan’s oil-and-gas projects, as these are unusual projects”. He also emphasized the necessity of cooperation between businessmen and the public, as well as additional efforts on the part of investors that incomes of these projects would be spent expediently, benefiting to the population. “We support British Petroleum (BP) in its aspiration to cooperate with the local companies, and the creation by the company and its partners of a business center for training businessmen to the international principles of work.

Simultaneously the group of international NGOs opposing BTC has become more active. Even in the summer of last year, sixty-four European NGOs acted against the project’s financing by IFIs. 70% of funds that donors plan to allocate for this project is money from taxpayers. Protesters have addressed the leadership of the European Bank of Investment (EIB), the EBRD, the Export-import bank of the U.S. (ExImBank), the American corporation of private investments and the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation.

The annual session of the EBRD board of directors recently took place in Tashkent, with the participation of representatives of NGOs opposing the BTC pipeline. The same representatives of NGOs from the U.S., Great Britain, Czech republic, Slovakia and Georgia, paid a visit to Baku in the middle of May. Immediately after their arrival to Azerbaijan, the delegation went to Ganja to carry out monitoring on the Azerbaijan site of the pipeline. Meanwhile, according to the Baku newspaper Ekho, the details of the last letter sent by NGOs opposing BTC to the governments of European countries has been made public, in which they ask to introduce an immediate moratorium on the construction of an oil pipeline. According to the letter, “the pipeline not only breaches international legal principles, but also threatens human rights”. Therefore these NGOs demand a moratorium on the financing of the project and to suspend its construction.

According to IFC executive vice-president Woicke, the environmental standards involved are the highest available. “Therefore, I think that as soon as the IFC will approve the credit for the project, other financial institutions will do the same thing. We have no questions concerning the construction on the Azerbaijani and Turkish sites of BTC. But we have some questions concerning environmental problems as BTC goes via the Borjomi national park in Georgia. We are sure that risks of possible spills of oil around Borjomi can be reduced”, declared Woicke.