The European Investment Bank (EIB) extended its second loan to the Slovak Gas Company (SPP) to enable the firm to rebuild its compressor stations and to complete part of its fifth gas pipeline, SPP officials announced. The 30 billion ECU loan, signed on November 21, has a maturity of 12 years and will be repaid by fixed half-year installments, with the first one due in two years.
SPP officials added that the loan will cover the company's expected 1997 investments of 8.5 billion Sk in the compressor station and gas transit areas. Last year, the Slovak gas transit system channelled almost 80 billion cubic meters of gas to Western Europe, which accounts for approximately one-third of consumption in western Europe. According to company officials, completion of the extension of the gas transit capacities between 1999 and 2000 will raise the firm's revenues by 3 billion Sk annually. The first EIB loan, also worth 30 million EUC, was provided in May, 1995.
4. Dec 1996 at 0:00 | From press reports of TASR and SITA
